• Catalyst Programs

  • Catalyst Programs
    Anderson Center 318
    651-895-0715
    mhoward03@hamline.edu

    Wesley Center
    Hamline University
    MS-A1735
    1536 Hewitt Avenue
    St. Paul, MN 55104
  • Catalyst Trips

    What is a Catalyst Trip?

     
    Catalyst - Be the Change
         
    The mission of Catalyst is to use direct service to investigate questions of justice and community. These trips are designed to provide you with an opportunity to learn and serve over spring break.  Each trip is led by a student leader and supported by staff resource persons. 

    Catalyst trips are organized through the Wesley Center for Spirituality, Service and Social Justice. 

    Applications will be available in early October. 








    2013 Catalyst Spring Break Service trips

    Washington DC: Homelessness in the Heart of Our Country

    Come for a life-changing experience in Washington, D.C. this spring break! This group will work one-on-one with the homeless community by providing service and do political advocacy by visiting elected officials. Not only will students visit the heart of the country, but they will also experience the true DC - including the poor, the middle, and the upper classes. This trip may also include the opportunity to be a part of a 48 hour homeless challenge. 

    New Orleans: Hurricane Relief Through an Interfaith Lens

    Have you ever wondered what it would be like to begin a project with strangers and leave with a sense of community? This New Orleans trip will focus on working with communities through service projects and volunteering. Throughout the process, by seeing through a different lens, we will grow an experience spiritual insight about the meaning of service. 

    White Earth, MN: Sustainable food systems and land rights

    Working with the White Earth Land Recovery Project, we will explore Food Justice and Restorative Land Justice issues from an Ojibwe perspective along with other religious perspectives. We will be work with community members while learning about sustainable communities, treaty rights, and the food justice movement. On past trips, we had the opportunity to tap for maple syrup, corn braiding, and farming techniques.

    San Francisco: Food Justice through Christian Perspectives

    On this trip, we will connect with several different, inclusive church communities to learn about hospitality and food justice in an urban context through service. We will also take time to reflect spiritually, as we walk the labyrinths at Grace Cathedral and talk together in the evenings. As a participant you’ll learn what it means to love your neighbors and make a difference-in San Francisco and locally back home. 

    San Francisco: Queer in the Community 

    Join us for an exciting and inclusive trip for LGBTQIA-identified folk and allies alike! Together, we'll participate in the multi-faceted and dynamic queer community in San Francisco while exploring intersections of queer identity with poverty, race, religion, and more! Last, but definitely not least, we'll engage in Twin Cities and San Francisco based service efforts to give back to our community and make lasting connections!

    Apply to go on a catalyst spring break service trip

     Learn more and apply to be a part of a Catalyst Spring Break Service Trip. Applications are now being accepted for the 2013 waiting list. Please note that we are no longer offering scholarships for the 2013 year. 

     

    Read the Blogs from Spring Break 2013

    Check out our exciting 2013 Catalyst Blogs.  Not only will you learn more about the trips, but students will give daily updates about their work in New Orleans, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.. White Earth will be posting after spring break because they will not have internet access on the trip.  

    You can also view blogs from past Catalyst Trips!

    Catalyst in Action

    Check out our video and image gallery to see what a Catalyst trip is like!



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    Community Partners

    Chicago: Community partners include Little Black Pearl, and others.

    New Orleans - First Street United Methodist Church
    First Street UMC- Service opportunities at First Street included physical work on people’s homes and community involvement with neighborhood people as needed.

    Washington DC: Community partners include the N Street Shelter; the Steinbruck Center; the National Coalition for the Homeless; DC Central Kitchen; and SOME, So Others Might Eat.

     

  • Wesley Center Logo 

  • Wesley Center News
    • Cristina Semi, a junior in the College of Liberal Arts, was named a 2013 Newman Civic Fellow Award recipient. The award program is presented by Campus Compact, a coalition of over 1200 college and university presidents across the United States dedicated to the promotion of campus-based civic engagement.
    • The 2013 John Wesley Award winners are Lynne Chung and Heather Hammond (undergraduate), Domonique Gilmore (law/grad), Melissa Embser-Herbert (faculty), and Sherrie Fernandez-Williams (staff).

    • Hamline University has been named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
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