By Piper Rutherford | Staff Writer
Baylor Missions applications for spring break and May 2025 trips to Central and South America, Africa and select parts of Europe and Asia are now open.
Senior Program Coordinator for Missions Bailey Hebert said these trips provide students with a glimpse into how their future careers can relate to ministry.
“We offer students the chance to look at topics that they might be interested in or passionate about,” Hebert said. “This includes looking at food insecurity, racial inequity and English as a second language.”
The two major deadlines are Oct. 30 and Nov. 6.
“Certainly, now is the time to be browsing the different trips to Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Kenya, South Africa, the Philippines, Romania and Spain,” Hebert said. “Students can visit our website to find all details about the specific trips.”
Hebert said one of the more popular trips is Mission’s partnership with One More Child in the Dominican Republic, which is a medically-focused trip for those on the pre-health track.
“This gives students the opportunity to see what medicine looks like and how healthcare operates in other countries,” Hebert said. “They get to take their training from Baylor’s classrooms and shadow hospitals where children and families are experiencing poverty.”
Hebert herself has been on the trip to the Dominican Republic in the past and said she enjoys getting to speak with the moms of children in the area.
“Although we help with a children’s ministry there, the moms come with the kids, and while it is fun to run around and play and sing with the kids, I enjoy spending quality time with their mothers,” Hebert said. “They are often very young moms and don’t have a huge support system, so reminding them that they have value outside of being a mom and asking them about themselves rather than their kids is really special.”
This aspect of connecting with other human beings is what Hebert said she loves most about serving in another country, which can have a lasting impact on students.
“It is great to learn from a different culture and see how they approach certain issues and interactions,” Hebert said. “If any student is able to go on a mission trip —globally or domestically — it is so impactful for their development and allows them to be better humans as they enter their next stage of life after graduation, whether that is finding a job, getting married or starting a family.”
For Frisco senior Jenna-Marie Beisert, Missions has given her the chance to lead a team during two trips to the Dominican Republic, which she said will help her in pursuing a future career in medical missions as a physician’s assistant.
“Being a missionary is something I thought about before coming to Baylor, but mission trips at Baylor have been a blessing and made me realize that this is what I want to do with my life,” Beisert said. “After leading a couple of trips, I now know how to be a good leader who is available, humble and a friend to those I am working with so that they feel open enough to trust me and be vulnerable with me.”
As for where Beisert sees herself after graduation, she said in a perfect world she will serve overseas after doing missionary training and attending school to become a physician’s assisstant.
“I want to specialize in women’s health as an OBGYN who delivers babies,” Beisert said. “As for where I will serve in the world, that is up to the Lord, whether it be Haiti, Asia or back in the Dominican Republic.”
