Cotter students and chaperones headed to the twin cities on Friday, November 3, for the annual urban plunge service trip, cordinated by CCMP.

There was a large turn out for students who attended the service trip: Maren Stewart, Anthony Guzzo, Ian Modjeski, Chaelim Kim, Riley McGill, Cale Beckman, Jenna Rickoff, Charlie Reilly, Miriam Ellis, Tyler Nachtigal, Mallory Cunningham, Spencer Griffin, Jordan Rubie, Jay Choi, Kevin Lee, Olivia Nisbit, Shino Miyagawa, and Hunter Ramsden, along with three chaperones, Mrs. Marisa Corcoran, Ms. Laurie Watson, and Ms. Sandra Hohnstadt.

After arriving in the cities Friday afternoon, the students went to an orginization called Second Harvest Heartland where they spent time sorting and bagging rice. Later, Friday evening, they went to the Midtown Global Market where they were able to jump into foreign cuisine and choose from 18 differnt ethnic food options. Here, the students also were able to watch Mexican dancers perform for the Day of the Dead celebration.

“Watching the dancers perform was one of my favorite parts of the trip,” said senior Riley McGill, “The dresses were beautiful and the celebration was so much fun.”

That night, the service group joined a few other schools at the Service Immersion Retreat Center where they were able to stay Fiday and Saturday night.

On Saturday morning, the students participated in a poverty simulation and later were split into three different groups where they either went around poor neighborhoods and devilered food in a “meals on wheels” fasion, babysit kids at a homeless shelter, or cleaned up community grounds by raking.

Ian Modjeski was a part of the group that delivered meals on wheels.

“While delivering the meals, I realized that the conditions that so many people were living in every day were pretty…pretty surprising,” said Ian, “It really makes you appreciate everything you have.”

The students’ eyes were opened by the service they partook in as well, and said that getting to know the people that they were serving on more personal level was defintiely a highlight of their service experience.

Besides the actual service aspect, the students were able to enjoy themselves during downtime by chilling out, playing games, and mingling with other students from different schools that were also bunking in the Service Immersion Retreat Center.

This service immersion trip was able to give the students a taste of what it is like to be poor in an urban community, which is essential if we are ever going to have empathy for each other and build a bridge that connects peoples of all economic and social status.