CCM Nursing Students Engage in Community Work

Students Learn About Health Effects in an Environment of Extreme Poverty

County College of Morris (CCM) Professors Buffy Reilly of Oak Ridge and Therese Farmer of Phillipsburg, along with 12 CCM students from the Nursing department and two medical students, took part in a service trip with Experience Mission to the School for Life, Gary, WV. The purpose of the journey was to enhance student learning about health effects in an environment of extreme poverty.

The team engaged in activities including demolition, construction, leveling, mulching and installing drainage pipes for a playground, visiting a nursing home, planting flowers and interacting with the community. CCM students who participated stated that the experience was invaluable and they are interested in going again. Students who did not know one another before the trip bonded and learned to problem-solve and overcome challenges, said Reilly. She noted that they also returned from the trip stronger, with a greater sense of physical, emotional and spiritual accomplishment.

Reilly and Farmer plan to continue engaging with the community by conducting future student trips. Contacts have been made within the Gary community which will allow for a continued relationship between CCM and the School for Life. The students are planning a backpack drive for children in the area that will be delivered in September.

CCM students involved in this service trip were Megan Murphy of Vernon; Jacquelyn Paige of Wharton; Tiffany Ramnanan of West Orange; Kerry Walsh of Long Valley; Daniel Scovill of Lake Hiawatha; Bridgette Hillman of Whippany; Christina Pappas of Chester; Brittany Miller of Mount Olive; Victorianna Belcastro of Mount Olive; Adrienne Antoniello of Whippany; Aimee Picinich of Parsippany; and Antonio Vargas of Parsipanny.

Photo: CCM faculty members and nursing students at the School for Life, Gary, WV