.png)
What's the Tea with Ministry?
Welcome to What’s the Tea with Ministry!
Where we spill the tea on the Jesuit and Mercy mission at the University of Detroit Mercy! Bringing you mission-centered conversation through storytelling, reflection, and community connection all over a cup of tea.
What's the Tea with Ministry?
Service Immersion, Justice, and Community
What if a single week could expand your world—and reshape how you serve back home? We sit down with campus minister Sammy Eckrich and nursing student Kylee Foster to trace the arc of Detroit Mercy’s service immersion program, from building a ramp in Appalachia to standing beneath the steel columns of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery. The thread that ties it together is simple and demanding: service with, not for.
Kylee shares how a mindful, shared living routine—one mug all week, budgeted meals cooked as a team—turned daily choices into values in action. Working alongside community partners, she learned the crucial distinction between giving aid and practicing solidarity, a shift that now guides her approach to nursing, advocacy, and cross-cultural care. Sammy opens the curtain on how we design trips that go beyond manual work: strong partners who teach context, daily prayer and evening reflection that turn experience into meaning, and museum visits that immerse us in the living history of civil rights and the ongoing struggle for justice.
Together, we explore the program’s Jesuit and Mercy roots, the Mercy Critical Concerns, and the vocational “sparks” that often follow—students bringing their skills back to Detroit, reimagining majors through the lens of sustainability and data for good, and choosing careers with compassionate impact. Expect stories that are honest, grounding, and practical: what a typical week looks like, why relationships matter more than checklists, and how standing in the places where history happened changes how we show up today.
Ready to rethink spring break—and maybe your path? Listen, subscribe, and share with a friend who’s curious about service, social justice, and meaningful travel. If this conversation moved you, leave a review and tell us: where should we go next, and what would you want to learn there?
Welcome to What's the Tea with Ministry? Where we spill the tea on the Jesuit and Mercy Mission at the University of Detroit Mercy.
SPEAKER_02:Bringing you mission-centered conversation through storytelling, reflection, and community connection all over a cup of tea.
SPEAKER_00:Hosted by University Ministry and our alumni co-host.
SPEAKER_02:That's us. I'm Anna Bryson, University Minister.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm Margot Iwu, your alumni co-host.
SPEAKER_02:Today we're going to be talking with Sammy Eckrich and Kylie Foster. Sammy is originally from a small town in Iowa. She pursued her passion for education and community engagement in Denver, Colorado, where she taught high school science and art for six years, focusing on supporting immigrant and low-income families. She holds a Bachelor's of Science in Biological Research with a minor in philosophy from Loris College, and later earned a Master's of Arts in Theology and Ministry from Boston College, specializing in theological education and eco-theology. Sammy worked with Boston College's Appalachia Volunteers program, contributing to a formation-based service immersion program aimed at addressing rural poverty. Her interests also include interfaith relations and conflict transformation, rooted in the belief of the inherent dignity of each person. Sammy loves spending her free time painting, singing, exploring the natural world, and playing with her two cats, Mouse and Woodchip.
SPEAKER_00:Kylie is a first-year nursing student here at Detroit Mercy who graduated from Mesquegin High School. She is a member of the Student Nursing Association and enjoys various volunteer activities. She just returned from her summer health program in LA, and she loves to write poetry and does open mic poetry.
SPEAKER_02:So, welcome, Sammy and Kylie. We're so excited that you're both joining us today on the podcast. Typically on our podcast, we start with something called the tea segment, which is inspired by the Sisters of Mercy and our tradition as a Mercy institution. On her deathbed, Catherine Macaulay, the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, told the sisters to sit down and have a comfortable cup of tea. And although the purpose of that wasn't about making sure that they were hydrated or having tea, but really it was about making sure that they stayed connected and in community and spent time with one another. And similarly, we try to have that style in our podcast. This is a podcast about our community, about connection and storytelling. Today is pretty warm. We're recording this in the midst of summer. So I don't have hot tea for us, but I thought it would be fun because I feel like I have more creativity with beverages in the summer because of the heat. So I'd love to ask everyone what's been your favorite drink during this hot summer season?
SPEAKER_00:Mine is a cold, slushy or a smoothie.
SPEAKER_02:Ooh, what flavor?
SPEAKER_00:Mango.
SPEAKER_02:Mango?
SPEAKER_00:Mango Margo.
SPEAKER_02:Mango for Margot. I love it. Sammy, what about you? What's been your beverage of choice recently?
SPEAKER_04:I love, like, especially on a weekend, making myself like a little fancy iced coffee where you put in like cinnamon and vanilla and honey, and it it feels like Starbucks, but but it's not. Is it love it? Is it what?
SPEAKER_00:Is it better?
SPEAKER_04:Oh, it's better. Because it's homemade, it's made with love.
SPEAKER_00:It has to be better. You'll see me at your house soon. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Kylie, what about you? Um, my go-to is always ginger ale. Um, I love a cold ginger ale, but I also love kombucha. That's been really nice during the summer. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I love that. I've been really obsessed with just putting like sprigs of mint in anything I'm drinking. I did that this morning. Yeah. Well, we had I bought a bunch of mint because I was like, oh, I'm gonna make mint lemonade. And then I was too lazy to actually make the mint lemonade, so I just put the sprig of mint in my lemonade, and I was like, mint lemonade, it is.
SPEAKER_00:And it did the job, I think. It is.
SPEAKER_02:I'm actually currently drinking a smoothie that has mint and strawberries in it, which is very good.
SPEAKER_00:Kylie, what's your favorite brand of kombucha? Okay, what's your favorite flavor?
SPEAKER_03:Um, there's this one, I don't know the name of the brand, but it comes in this glass bottle. LADE.
SPEAKER_02:Are they brown bottles? Yes. Yeah, healthy. Those are my husband's favorite. He loves those. I really like those pink lady apple. The lady pink apple. That's my favorite. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:That's the mom. Pomegranate is not touching that one.
SPEAKER_02:Incredible. Lovely. I'm glad everyone has all their fun beverages. But that's not the reason that we invited you both on the podcast today. We invited you to share a bit about our service immersion program. Sammy, obviously, as our campus minister for service and justice, this is the area that you operate and run, and you're the one who makes it all possible. And Kylie, we invited you as a student who's gone on one of our immersion experiences to share about your experience being in Appalachia, which is the trip that you were on, and sharing just a bit about how that experience was for you. So we're really excited to have you both. I pulled from our website, which Sammy and our Jesuit volunteer maintains beautifully every year, a little blurb about service immersion. So I'm going to share that with all of our listeners so that you have just a little picture of kind of the definition of what our service immersion program is about, because different programs at different institutions or spaces can have different purposes, and obviously ours is integrated into the mission here at Detroit Mercy. So here is the blurb that we have from our ministry website. Service immersion trips are key experiences of a transformative Jesuit and Mercy education rooted in service and social justice. These experiences include opportunities to serve in shelters, soup kitchens, after school projects, urban farms, and many other important community-based projects. These experiences also include cultural learning, relationship building, presentations from local community leaders, daily prayer and evening reflection. They offer a lifelong path for our students to become men and women for and with others. And we believe that these experiences form student leaders who have critical minds and compassionate hearts. Very well written, I must say. Really enjoy that paragraph. So I'd love to start with you, Kylie, just sharing about which immersion trip you participated in and what drew you into wanting to do this particular experience.
SPEAKER_03:So I participated in the Jabba Mountain service trip. I think what drew me to this particular immersion trip was the fact that I do love and value volunteer work and like serving my community. And I felt like it would be a great way to kind of get started with that here at UDM. Awesome.
SPEAKER_02:And then what was like the justice focus of your particular service immersion trip?
SPEAKER_03:Right. So we kind of had a focus on both the environmental aspects of like, you know, our work and also with the community. Um, like the community that we were working with was more um impoverished and more disadvantaged. And so kind of trying to trying to serve that community and also just trying to work with that community rather than I don't know, just helping was a really big thing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's really nice. Sammy, from your perspective as somebody who certainly participates as a staff lead on our immersion trips, but also helps coordinate all of the trips that happen. What has it really been for you to step into this role here instead of your previous experiences with APA, Appalachian volunteers at BC? How have you seen this program succeed and flourish in different ways?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Well, one of the things that I've gotten to do is really embody a spirit of community engaged learning that is here at UDM. A lot of the trips I've been a part of in the past before coming here, some of them end up having a pretty big educational and justice component. And some of them don't. Some of them, it's a little bit more of like you go for a week, you build a house, um, and you go home. And that's great and that's beautiful in itself. But the pieces that I hear from students that are most impactful are the ones where they are learning about justice issues and really reflecting um every day so that the experience is integrated into their sense of self, their sense of who they want to be and where they want to go, especially on their college journey. And so as I, you know, curate programs for next year, that's something that I'm thinking about is are our community partners um able to kind of share the the big picture issues as well as doing the work, right? Because we're there to be helpful. We're we are there to to work, um, but also to educate ourselves and to build relationships and hopefully lasting relationships if we can continue those partnerships long term.
SPEAKER_00:Out of all your immersion trips, because you've been on immersions here and you've done some prior to coming, what is your most favorite one? What was the takeaway from your most favorite one? And now that you're going to be planning some more, what are immersion trips or locations that you're looking forward to going to?
SPEAKER_04:You know, it's hard to choose my favorite. Um, but I'd love to tell you about the first one I ever went on as a sophomore in college, I think. Um I was chosen to go to a Chicago immersion trip that was kind of structured like a you might say justice issue sampler, um, buffet menu style trip. Um, and that was with the brother David Darst Center, and they're an excellent organization. And I'll be honest, I was a little bit disappointed at first that I that this was gonna be my trip. I wanted to go to Kentucky and build a house.
SPEAKER_00:So there was the option of two.
SPEAKER_04:There were there was actually a bunch, yeah. Okay. Um, and so when once I actually got there, though, it was so beautiful because we were learning about so many different issues and getting to meet so many people that it took the focus off of us and the impact that we were making and shifted it more to am I learning something more about the world and am I making meaningful connections? And is my sense of the world expanding a little bit bigger than it was before? And that shift in myself made it such a positive experience. And so that's the experience I want our students to have is like, did you expand a little bit inside? Did you, did the world get a little bit bigger for you so that when you go and make decisions and vote and choose which volunteer activities you want to be a part of, that this has informed your decision making and your and your sense of who you are and and who you're gonna be. Love it.
SPEAKER_02:Amazing. Kylie, can you share from your experience maybe one highlight from Drop a Mountain? I know it's probably hard because I'm sure there's lots of memories, but one thing that just really stuck with you, and if it's a story, that's great too.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so I think for me personally, it was uh the people there for sure. Um, and I know it's not a specific moment, but over the span of that week, I just formed such a deep and close bond and connection with a lot of the students there, and it was because we had this shared vision of what we wanted to do to help the community, uh well, to service the community. Um and it was just beautiful. I mean, we talked about religion, we all came from different religious backgrounds, and so the discussions that we had were just so eye-opening and insightful. Um I think that was definitely a highlight for me.
SPEAKER_02:And then what would you say in terms of like education and justice? What was your biggest takeaway from Drapa Mountain?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I think I truly got to understand kind of the difference between um like service work and then just helping. Um, I think there's just an entirely different perspective that goes into doing service work than there is to just doing aid or just helping a community. And I think that was something that really um really stuck with me. Um and I'm definitely gonna utilize that going forward with a lot of the service work that I do and as well as with the advocacy and social work that I do. Um so yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_00:What's your biggest take? Like learning that there are different perspectives of both and that they're not like one big thing definition-wise. Like, what is like your biggest takeaway moving forward? Because I know you said it impacted what you plan on like doing and how you plan on approaching such in the future. So what is it, what is it about service work um and how has it shaped how you're gonna move forward, right? Impacting whatever community that you serve.
SPEAKER_03:Right. So um in the past I viewed it as helping, but helping kind of has this dynamic to it, um, where it's like, oh, like you are you are disadvantaged, and I'm going to be the one that gives you this, like, you know, this aid or this relief. Um with service, it's like we we are equals and we are working together and we're figuring things out together. Um and it's more of like like almost like a conversation, like, and it's honestly beautiful. Um, and I could talk on and on about it, but like I don't know. Um, but going forward, I mean, I'm going into nursing, um, and I'll be working across like around the world. Um, and so kind of just understanding that no matter the background, we are equals, and I'm gonna treat you as such, and we're just gonna work together and try to try to just figure things out. That's what's up. That is what's up.
SPEAKER_02:Sammy, can you share with us a little bit about the history of service immersion at Detroit Mercy and what it's looked like? I know this is you've had one full year in this particular role, but we've been doing service immersion for a number of years. Can you share a little bit about what service immersion has looked like for Detroit Mercy?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Um it was interesting for me to learn that it started with the Jesuits um in 1989. Um, it was because of our Jesuit affiliation, some Jesuits brought students to Pine Ridge, South Dakota, which is a reservation. And it's a location that even till today, lots of groups still visit. And um, so it started there and continued to just grow and get bigger and bigger and bigger. Like a lot of programs, um, I know that service immersions got hit hard by COVID, right? It kind of changed the culture around being involved, I think, in the university setting a little bit. And so um, it's interesting to inherit a program that is now growing back as we shift away from the like, you know, necessary but unfortunate isolation that a lot of us have experienced and his kind of embedded culture a little bit. And so it's exciting to see it grow. And that's kind of what I see today is that um because service immersion is so big and across so many different campuses, there's just a lot of opportunity. There's a lot of things that we can do. We get to be selective in the trips that we choose to participate in because there's so many great opportunities out there.
unknown:Great.
SPEAKER_02:I think one of the things that would be really helpful for our listeners is, especially those who are listening who have never been on a service immersion trip, is to kind of paint a picture of what a week long, because I think most of our trips are generally just a week long, six, seven days, of what that week could look like. So from your perspective, Kylie, like what were the things that you did throughout that week in Drop a Mountain?
SPEAKER_03:So um when we first got there, um, we were at like at this house, and there was like um like these little um not mobile homes, but like these little kind of like trailers on the outside. And we learned that those were just ways for them to be mindful of the environment and how much of the things that they were consuming. Like there were like water pumps and um like generators and just different things like that. Um and so I think that initially kind of let us know like what we were gonna be in for. Um, and so we get into the house, uh, we start talking, and the owner of the house he says, okay, so we do things differently around here. Um, like you have to be conscious of how much water you're using and how much waste you're producing, um, and you have to keep uh like this one mug, this is gonna be your mug for this entire week. Um, and so that we're not wasting like a lot of um water doing dishes and stuff like that. Um we also had a breakfast, lunch, and dinner schedule. So we were split into these little groups, and we were all assigned what days we would be cooking which meal. Um we went to the grocery store, they gave us a budget and told us that we could do whatever we can make, whatever we wanted as long as we stayed within that budget. Um, and I think that was just a lovely like team-building experience, just cooking in the kitchen with um the other students. It was lovely. Um and then each day we had our work, our service job. Uh, and yeah, I think that was kind of like the day-to-day.
SPEAKER_00:I love that.
SPEAKER_03:What were some of the service projects you worked on? So we had work to build a ramp. Um, that took a few days, but we ended up getting pretty close to done. Um and then we also did some yard work to make way for a new building. I think they were going to get some sort of museum set up. Um, and so we were rigging the leaves, we were getting the sticks and stuff out of the way. Um and then another project that we had was let me think. Uh some of the other groups also worked in a different food bank and were helping move things and uh oh, they there was this one woman, and they were I think they were doing yard work for her, and she gave them like cake and stuff, and so they came back with like a bunch of cake. It was it was amazing.
SPEAKER_02:It was great, awesome. And then Sammy, I know this past spring break, you uh took our students to Montgomery, Alabama to a trip at Resurrection Mission, which actually, funny enough, Margaret and I both went on two years ago now, three years ago? Two years ago. It was a while ago. But um same same trip, same uh community partners. Uh really awesome trip. But that trip's a little bit different than some of our traditional immersion trips because the service component in that trip is definitely important and meaningful. Um, but it is it plays a smaller role. So I'm wondering if you could share with our listeners a little bit about what that trip looked like because it is a little bit different. Um, and I know it's one that we're considering running again. I don't know if we've confirmed that, but you know, it'd be great to hear what that trip kind of looks like when it comes to that week-long experience.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so um the Montgomery trip is, like you said, based in service. And so we were on site with this parish Resurrection Catholic, um, which is also a school. And so a lot of the service that we did was being in classrooms each day, um, as well as helping them with um some much-needed library maintenance and book sorting that they needed done. So there was this element of like, okay, yes, we're contributing a service that they need and they need volunteers to help them get to some things that they haven't been able to get to themselves. Um, but we were also building a lot of relationships with these students and getting to know the whole community, which placed the whole experience in a kind of context that felt really important to the trip. Um and then the other side of it is that every day we visited a museum to learn about civil rights issues and the history taking place in Montgomery and neighboring towns. And so this was kind of ended up being the meat and potatoes of the program because this is the educational piece in a really interesting experiential way. There are these incredible museums, these um beautiful installments to learn about the history um that took place there. And it's it was a very emotional experience for a lot of us. And so I think the the theme that kind of ended up developing was this real sense of okay, we're standing in this moment in history. We've got our current political situation, um, we've got the city of Montgomery that is both thriving in some ways, especially because of these museums, but also um impoverished in a lot of other ways. And you could see that reflected in the community we were staying with. But also we're looking back into the past and we're connecting all of the dots that got us here today. Another beautiful piece of it was if I if I have a moment to share, one story is one night we met with local civil rights leaders, both from the 60s, so folks who knew and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. Um, and current activists working on issues, especially around um uh people on death row who were innocent, basically. And so it was this like beautiful meeting of being able to see history and how it has been handed off to today. And so this was a really inspiring meeting because it made a lot of the students think like, oh, where do I see myself in this? Like, what is it that I want to be doing? And it encouraged them to kind of think about Detroit a lot, right? I mean, you don't have to go outside of your city to see issues, um, to see systemic problems at play. But there is an advantage when you do because it kind of gives you perspective and it helps you understand the context of situations in ways you wouldn't otherwise be able to. And they were able to go back to Detroit and start thinking, okay, how do I want to be different here? And so that was, yeah, that's a little bit about Montgomery. And we are going back, so we will have signups available for that soon.
SPEAKER_00:And everyone should sign up. You mentioned going to multiple museums throughout their stay. So what was your favorite museum experience? Which if you remember the name, you might not. That's okay. Um, but what was it and why?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I would also be interested to know your guys' favorite museums, but um, I loved the the Legacy Museum, which was the very first one we went to. Um, the legacy museum is a more recent one, and it basically shows the history of um African enslavement um through current civil rights issues. And so it is very intense, it's very tactile. Um, there, you know, the very first thing you walk into is a room full of screens showing waves and loud crashing waves and like these words telling the story of people who were kidnapped from their homes and brought to um to the American colonies. Um and so immediately you're like immersed in it. And so um it's that it's that intense experience the entire way through. I think everyone should go to the legacy museum at some point in their lives. Um, but it kind of set the stage for the whole rest of the week. Uh a lot of the museums we went to were less intense, um, but also very informative, and and that kind of helped us enter into it and be like, okay, this is this is the gravity of of what we're learning about this week.
SPEAKER_00:Was the Legacy Museum the museum that at the end of it there was an outside portion? Do you remember what I'm talking about? There was an outside portion where we learned about we went to the lynching memorial. That's what I that was my favorite. Um specifically because learning about like everything that happened back then in school and then learning about like what's the what the real tea was and that aspect or learning how severe it was because you know there was like details that like I would believe that you know not age appropriate for school kids and whatnot. So um it's like a a constant memory that I can never forget, especially the man who explained everything to us. Um, I think that that first favorite. Um because it just puts things into perspective. I think after going to that museum, I I was like, uh I think I want to start serving in underserved areas for that particular reason. And then the second one would have been the legacy uh museum. But the the art the architecture of the lynching memorial was beautiful, very very beautiful, but it held a lot of deep and like sorrowful stories. And I don't think that you could have put the way that they set everything up in a better format than that. It was, I mean, you seen family trees, and you kind of knew there was I think the person who gave us our tour was very well informed about of a lot of the family members that were on each stone, and I think that was like very significant. And it's important to have someone who, as a tour guide, knows all that information, which you don't often really get.
SPEAKER_02:So I think one of the things that's interesting is he wasn't a tour guide. He wasn't. He wasn't, no, he was just just a guy. Yeah, it was literally like a better No, he was a security officer. Oh god But he was so he was you know we were a larger group, so I think he got closer to see what we were all doing. But then yeah, he was just this just I shouldn't say just a security guard. He was a he was serving as a security person at uh the Lynch Memorial, but he did share with us, and I was gonna say similarly that one of my fondest memories was the impact of his storytelling and connecting with us and talking about his experience with family members in his history and his family lineage that were lynched and people that he knew, and so that was really powerful, yeah, especially because we had just come from going through the legacy museum and then went there right after. Timing-wise, we went to the legacy museum later in our trip. It was not on like the first day, and so in some ways it's interesting to hear your perspective of like having gone through it on the first day and then taking that with you as you walked the rest of the week versus really ours is almost our last day.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, what was our first one? Do you remember?
SPEAKER_02:The very first museum we went to. Yeah. I think it was the Civil Rights Museum downtown. Okay. Was the very first one we went to. Which I also really enjoyed. That was the one that had the uh it had a bunch of hallways and and um displays to see walking around. Yes. But it also a huge chunk of it was watching a short film um talking about the history of civil rights, the civil rights movement, and and how it's progressed to today and what that looks like with the Black Lives Matter movement um and so much more. And so I mean, yeah, I I think from my perspective as somebody who's participated in a lot of immersions, whether they've been here or at previous institutions I've worked at, or even my own immersion experiences uh as a student, there was something very special about the format of Montgomery in terms of how much educational experience. And museum experience that that trip holds. Yes. Um, so in some ways I felt like I had I don't want to say education because I feel like I get an education in any immersion I've ever been on. I I have things that I learn. But in a more traditional sense of what we think of as education, I had a lot of opportunities on that immersion to read and learn about different things. Um and really be immersed in the places where a lot of those things occurred. I think it's so meaningful to be where things happened. Yeah. I think similarly, I I participated in an immersion uh in El Salvador and we got to go into a museum that um was made by the community. So it was not a formal museum, it was definitely not by any means um professional. It was just uh put together by the community. They had built a house for it, and um really it was just a collection of artifacts from their community during the midst of their civil war. And my memory is a lot of like all of the pieces of um like bombs that were dropped in their community and and seeing that in pictures that they had displayed, and I think in some ways like to be looking at those photographs and also to then be able to go walk down the hill and be in the places where they hid if they were under attack or be in the places where um you can see that the earth shape has changed because of the bomb at war and and weaponry use. It's very, very interesting. So, yeah, thank you for sharing those things. One of the last questions I want to ask both of you in this section of our podcast is why do you think immersions are important or relevant? And why do you think that members of our Detroit Mercy community should participate in them? And I'll ask you both that question because you'll have two different perspectives, one from a staff perspective, one from a student. So who would like to go first?
SPEAKER_03:Um I could go first. Great. Thanks, Kylie. Um, I think that these immersion trips are essential. I think that it's important for students to have the opportunity to get involved in not only the community here, but communities outside of Michigan as well. I think that one thing that I have observed, like with coming from a smaller hometown, is that sometimes people have a bubble that they that they stick in, and it just really hinders their ability to broaden and expand their perspective. And so these immersion trips give students that opportunity to go out and see what's actually there.
SPEAKER_02:Great. Thanks, Cathy. Sammy, from your perspective, why are immersions important and relevant? Um, two thoughts.
SPEAKER_04:Um, one is what I like to call like a global perspective. And this is one of our learning outcomes for service immersions is the ability to see how none of us are, you know, isolated individuals just going about our lives all on our own. We are actually all connected, right? Um, society connects us, and there's a spiritual reality to this as well. And so that is one reason that we reflect on these experiences, is because we want to understand that we are a part of this bigger human family. Um, and for a trip like Kylie's, that also has this like you're in a very rural environment, you're you're in the forest, you're in the mountains, right? Um, you're also considering the non-human creation and how we're connected to it. And so there's this sense of understanding that you are a part of something bigger and understanding where those connections take place. Um, another piece that is really cool for me as a staff person is one, I guess I would call it like the vocational piece. It is really neat to see when a student makes has this little like spark in them because of something that they experienced on a trip. And it's often not something you can predict. I think sometimes if you go into any experience and you have a question on your heart and you're like, I'm gonna decide, like, do I want to get married or not on this trip? I'm gonna decide do I want to be a dentist or not on this trip. Not always helpful. I say that because I have been that person who's like, I'm gonna figure out my life. Um, but it's those like spontaneous little sparks where maybe it was a conversation they had, maybe it was something they learned, maybe it was a relationship that they built that kind of sparks something in them and says, like, ooh, I want to listen to that little voice in me that says, move this direction. Yeah. Even just on our trip this spring, um, some students are like, here is the organization I now work with because of this trip, because I wanted to do something in the Detroit community. Um, for others, it's like, hey, I'm getting this data analytics degree and I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, but I learned about someone who used it for um understanding climate change and sustainability, and that sparked something in that student. And so that's the other side of it that's really exciting for me is like, you don't know, it's that sort of mystery of like who's gonna get a spark, and it's okay if you don't, but it it is exciting. Um yeah, to just see where people feel drawn. Anna, did you ever have a spark?
SPEAKER_02:In some ways, yeah. I think I mentioned the trip earlier. I've been to El Salvador twice. Uh, but the first time I went to El Salvador, I was asked uh with 48-hour notice because a staff member uh yeah uh left the university and didn't tell anybody, and so we got back from break. And this we at the institution I was working at, not here, this is not Detroit Mercy. We also run service immersion trips in January before we come back to school, but post Christmas. And I was headed back to Cleveland, I had just been visiting my family, and I got a phone call from one of our campus ministers, and they asked me if I'd be willing to travel with this group going to El Salvador, and they were kind of like, Yeah, we didn't know that this person wasn't gonna be back at the university, so we don't have another staff member. And the policy at that school is you had to send two staff members on international travel. And so I kind of said yes immediately on the phone. Um, or at least I said yes to myself in my head. I did say to my campus minister that I was I uh my colleague that I was like, I need to like tell my parents that that I'm leaving the country. Like, I'm not asking for permission. I was an adult, but just probably should give them a heads up that I'm leaving. But I said yes, and that trip was very impactful to me, and I think some of it was because I wasn't prepped for it. Like I didn't have the pre-immersion trip meetings, I hadn't met with the group, I knew some of the students because I worked with them in other capacities, but really I was, you know, kind of just entering into a community that had been established and then entering into the community in El Salvador. But I just had a really I don't know, I can't pinpoint one particular thing, but the spark that I'm thinking of was kind of twofold. One, um it really changed my perspective on the sacredness of life. I don't think I ever didn't think life was sacred, um, but it changed the way that I viewed my own life and I viewed people's ability to just live freely in the world without fear. And I think the other side of it was also a reminder that like in the midst of being nervous, scared, or anxious, because I sometimes deal with anxiety, um 90% of the time the yes that you offer is going to turn into a really incredible experience. So I think those were kind of the two little sparks I had was like I said yes to going on this trip with no plan. I I I nor and I think it's because I am a person who like likes to plan. And so it was a reminder that like I can still do those things and not be not be anxious about it. Like I still powered through and and it was the most amazing trip. And El Salvador is a place that I just deeply love. That's good. As a result, so much that I was like, I'm going back. Have you been back? I have, I've been back twice. It's a beautiful country, still struggling deeply and obviously getting a lot of attention in our current political climate.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:There is something to that like zero expectations approach. Like, like obviously, we're gonna prep our students and hopefully do it well. But I I'm glad you mentioned that because I think that's what made my first immersion so great. I said no prep. I didn't set, no, I we did prepare. But I didn't go in with expectations. I was like, I don't really know. I don't really know. I'm just here. I'm just gonna show up and let it be what it will be, and that's where the beauty comes up.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I think my was I didn't even want to go. I was like, I think You didn't want to go. I didn't want to go to that specific one. There was two that was offered, and I was, I think West Virginia, and they got canceled. Remember, there was because it was like low signup numbers and stuff-up numbers to wrap up. Yeah, and she was like, Come to Alabama. I was like, Mmm. But I still went, and so similar to that, like not knowing, it's just like the idea of either like not knowing what to expect or not even wanting to go in the first place, or not just being too in tune with planning on going and what to expect kind of is what makes the trip even better, and that is why to this day I live my life very spontaneously. Wow, beautiful. So to finish up, we like to ask all of our guests to answer two particular questions. You both can answer both questions, take turns if you like, but the first one is what is your favorite part of the mission of Detroit Mercy?
SPEAKER_04:I think I said this last time, and I'm gonna come back to this answer again. Excuse me, specificity. That is a tough word. It is. I love the specificity of the mercy critical concerns. Um, they're right there in our mission. Like we care about people. Like we like we are concerned about racism, we are concerned about the climate, we want to have solidarity with immigrants, and that's actually pretty radical, but it's right there in our mission. And so that is something that I think is beautiful and unique about an institution, and it invites a lot of conversation too. Great. What about you, Kylie?
SPEAKER_03:I think I agree because I remember being in one of my leadership classes and um a priest, I forgot his name, I don't remember, but he was talking about the the mission of Detroit Mercy and kind of hearing about the social justice issues that he had brought up and just about the advocacy and the progression. Um, I think that was just like, wow, I didn't, I don't know, I didn't expect like, you know, a priest to kind of be talking about this stuff. Like from my background, that's not something that's like um seen too often. Um and so I really appreciated that, and I think that probably would be my favorite part of the mission.
SPEAKER_00:Nice. What motivates you to live the mission? Like, is there any aspect of it that's like, yeah, I'm gonna do this?
SPEAKER_03:I would say like within my own life, um like my motivation to be that person that is able to provide service and have like a focus on social justice issues and making changes in the world. I think um definitely my career, uh, the career that I want to go into, it requires me to be politically conscious and aware and socially conscious and aware and culturally conscious and aware. And so I think that definitely motivates me to keep going and to live the mission.
SPEAKER_04:What about you, Sammy? Um, I feel very motivated by just the opportunity to keep learning. I think for myself, the constant sense of wanting to grow and wanting to learn new things is very motivational for me in the career I've chosen. I used to be a teacher, and so I bring an educational lens to this work doing service immersions too. And one of the things that I've learned is you the point is not to be an expert, right? And and when you're the person who's like, quote, in charge, um, which I am in these settings at times, I have to remind myself that, ooh, actually, it's not about me having the knowledge and imparting it. It's actually about having an experience together where we get to learn together. And I think that educational environments are much more effective when you can help someone ask a good question to lead them to the next question. So, you know, whether it's civil rights or learning about rural poverty or whatever the issue is, I want to like companion people in the learning process because I get to learn too. I get to learn from students and from these relationships with our community partners and model how to learn how to engage in this community-engaged learning. And it's just fun. It's really fun.
SPEAKER_02:So we are at the final part of our podcast recording, which is one of our favorite parts, the lightning round. Okay. The way this works is we'll determine now who wants to answer first for every question, who wants to answer second. Margo and I are gonna go back and forth asking the questions, and whoever was picked first will always answer first, and whoever's picked second will always answer second. And we'll just run down the list. These are meant to be quick, not super drawn out, but I will say that the last one, the last question is what's the best advice I've ever received? And so that obviously is not usually a one-word answer. So feel free to expand on that particular one. But the rest are kind of meant to be a little bit quick and fast. That's why it's called a lightning round. So who would like to answer first of the two of you? Um, I could go first. I'm gonna go first. Kylie's gonna go first, Sammy's gonna go second, and Margo's gonna ask the first question. Sweet or salty? Salty, sweet. What is your favorite color?
SPEAKER_04:Green. I don't have one. Fair. I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00:What is your favorite thing about Detroit?
SPEAKER_03:Um, food and diversity. Art.
SPEAKER_02:Current favorite song.
SPEAKER_03:Um, Venus as a Boy by Bjork. Pink Pony Club.
SPEAKER_00:Water, earth, fire, or air. Earth. Water. Okay, tough and Katara.
SPEAKER_02:Name someone who inspires you and why.
SPEAKER_03:Um I would probably have to say Bjork. She's very expressive.
unknown:Like it.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, this is such a cliche insert, but I'm really inspired by Gandhi and his um and his inner faith leadership.
SPEAKER_00:What's one place that you want to visit? Iceland.
SPEAKER_02:Um, Madagascar. Okay. What word do you have a hard time pronouncing?
SPEAKER_03:Resume.
SPEAKER_04:I say remuse all of the specificity. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night owl. Neither.
SPEAKER_01:Middle of the day. I prefer to be asleep. I don't blame you. Asleep always. And then our last one is what's the best advice you've ever received? Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Um, I think it had to be something from my sister. She is one of the wisest people that I know. Um, I think it might have been, I don't know, because, you know, it was a it was just a little while ago. I was talking about something, and I just kept thinking about things just in extremes. Like it was either gonna go this way or it was gonna go that way, and it was just nothing in between. And she called me out on that, and she was just like, Why is it so extreme? Like, why why are you falling into these extremes? And I just really like sat and I thought, I'm like, why am I doing that? And I think that was just very insightful, and it has guided me to the place where I am today, and it's not extreme at all.
SPEAKER_04:Wow, embrace the gray, yeah, embrace the nuance. Um I have received this advice multiple times, and it's always when I am freaking out about the future, and it's to embrace when you're in a threshold, like when you're in that liminal space between like sh maybe you're changing jobs, maybe you're making a big decision in life or trying to figure something out, and you're kind of just in that zone of I don't know. And that that is actually a valid place to be. I always try to like force myself out as fast as I can, just get to the finish line. And like that space of being in a threshold is actually a holy space. And sometimes that's where God talks to us the most. So that's advice that I will probably continue to receive the rest of my life and desperately need.
SPEAKER_02:Amazing. Well, I want to thank you both so much for being on our podcast today, for sharing a bit about service immersion from your personal experiences, from how our program is structured here at Detroit Mercy. Obviously, to anyone listening, I highly encourage you to consider one of our service immersion trips. I'll ask Sammy if she has the docket of what's coming up for this year to share with all of our listeners about what are maybe some possible options for this year or things to look forward to.
SPEAKER_04:So we are for sure going back to Montgomery for the civil rights trip in the spring. We, as in we.
SPEAKER_02:It's an alumni trip. We're all going.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, actually, maybe someday an alumni trip. We are also likely going to work with um an organization called Neuro Ridge. Um, and that would be a trip also to Appalachia, to Tennessee, focused on eco-spirituality and sustainability.
SPEAKER_03:Neuro Ridge was great. I had a great time there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Which is awesome.
SPEAKER_03:And maybe more.
SPEAKER_02:And maybe more. Stay tuned. Stay tuned. I just want to encourage anyone who's thinking about it, on the fence about it. It's a great way to spend your spring break because both of these trips will be held over spring break. Great opportunity for space to build community with other classmates and students, as well as build community with our community partners that we meet in these different places and the people that we encounter. So I can't toot the horn enough that you should definitely consider it. And I just want to thank you both for being here and sharing from your perspectives and sharing the stories that touched you and your experience. It always helps to be able to have people who have that firsthand experience to be able to share the ways it's been transformative or the ways it's helped people come to spaces of vocation, the sparks. All of that's really great to hear and makes for clearly a good podcast, but also helps to educate our community on different opportunities that we have that they might not know about. So I want to thank you both for being here, for taking the time and for spending this last hour with us. Of course. Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:If you enjoy listening to us today, be sure to subscribe so that you never miss an episode. Also, be sure to follow us on social media at udmunderscore ministry, or check us out at the What's the Tea with Ministry podcast on the Detroit Mercy website. I better see you there.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you to our guests, Sammy Eckridge and Kylie Foster, for being in conversation with us today. Thank you also to all those who made this podcast possible, especially the Communication Studies Department, our sound engineer Michael Jason, our music composer Dan Gregg, marketing and communications, and the whole Detroit Mercy community.
SPEAKER_00:We look forward to sharing more of the mission with you next time.
SPEAKER_02:See you later.