COURTESY PHOTOS

Carroll High School students pose while exploring natural beauty on a mission trip to the Navajo reservation in Arizona.

Carroll students do mission work in Arizona

By David Eck

DAYTON DEANERY — A group of Carroll High School students recently took a unique summer trip: They spent a week doing mission work on the Navajo reservation in Chinle, Arizona by Canyon de Chelly

The 14 students and four adults studied and experienced the Navajo culture firsthand. The activity was part of a new summer religion class at Carroll.

"We also ahead of time did studies of the Navajo," said Carole LaCombe, a Carroll religion teacher. "We studied the demographics, the art and culture, the history and the myths and spirit of the Navajo."

During their stay, the students cleaned out and helped organize a food bank, socialized with the Navajo people, organized a skating party for the local children and helped with bingo.

They also helped clean the local Catholic church and repaired a running track.

"This is actually our first time with this kind of experience," said Nick Jobe, who will be junior at Carroll this fall. "It was a new idea."

The students stayed at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, a mission church on the reservation.

While they did plenty of work, they did find time to socialize and explore the natural beauty of Arizona through hikes in the canyons. They also had daily prayer services.

The trip left strong impressions on the students.

"It was a very humbling experience," Jobe said. "Not just being with the people but to be in the surroundings. You see this majestic landscape and you get a feel for how small you are in the universe. At the same time, in helping people, you get a feel for how one person can make a difference."

In past years students have done mission work in Kentucky, but the teachers opted to include a more extensive and deeper faith-filled experience this year, LaCombe said. The teachers targeted the Navajo people because of a former Carroll teacher who had worked with them.

"It is considered another culture, and it is another world," LaCombe said. "They have their own set of laws."

Students will continue to work in Kentucky.

Participating in service was also a goal of the class and Arizona trip.

The purpose of this newer class was to widen the scope of what it means at Carroll to learn and serve another culture," LaCombe said. "That was primary. Our students came away enriched in another culture but also, hopefully, deepened in their faith."

The students said they appreciated how the Navajo people incorporated their culture into the wider society.

"We went to one of their Masses," said Kelsey Jenkins, who will be a Carroll senior in the fall. "They just incorporated so much from their culture into (Mass)."

She said the Navajo used unique prayers and symbols in the Mass.

As part of her preparation for the trip, Jenkins studied the Navajo demographics, including housing, lifestyle and culture.

"We knew how they lived," Jenkins said. We didn’t know their personality, per se."

The education and the ability to share that knowledge is some of what Jobe took from the experience.

"I think one of the biggest parts of the service aspect wasn’t necessarily the work that we did but the education," he said. "I think education is one of the biggest parts of service . . . because by learning about people, we can bring that back with us and teach others."

Carroll High School students prepare a meal while on a mission trip to the Navajo reservation in Arizona. From left: Nick Jobe, Pat Moloney, John Lukoski and Molly Troller.