New Cross-Cultural Engagement opportunity, Urban Plunge: New York City, gives students the ability to receive a closer look at the inner workings of the city many are familiar with.
The trip entails students traveling to New York City from Aug. 3 through 9. While student housing for the trip is located in Manhattan, students will also travel to both the Bronx and Queens as well. Activities for the trip include meals in families’ homes, worship services in a variety of languages and learning the history of immigration.
The idea for the trip started after Dr. Kim Okesson visited a friend during a vacation in New York City.
“I’ve been to New York before, and I grew up in New York state, but way up in central New York,” said Okesson. “But this was, ‘we’re going to visit our friends, we’re going to spend time with them,’ and we pretty much just lived their life for a week, and it was a whole new perspective on the city.”
The perspective shift from tourist to New York native was a significant one for Okesson and is something she wants to emphasize during the trip. She wants students to see the city through the eyes of the diverse groups of people who live there, not just a trip defined by popular landmarks.
“[My friend] told me, ‘Listen, if you have any students who say, hey I want to go work with this certain language group or this people in this nation; he was like tell me, because I think I could set them up in Queens, and they could be friends with people from that language group because it’s just that diverse.”
With the vast diversity within the city in mind, and with inspiration from the London Urban Plunge from last summer, she came back to Asbury with the idea for the NYC trip.
“So, as I came back to Asbury and Wilmore, and I was thinking about how I’ve got to get Asbury students to New York City, I asked my friends who we stayed with, I want to design an Urban Plunge just like I did in London, but I want to do it for New York,” explained Okesson. “He immediately sends me back a contact for this group called Envision New York City.”
Envision New York City is a specialized ministry within Alliance Missions, which is part of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. Envision’s mission statement is to develop leaders for and from the diaspora.
“We will be using all of [Envision’s] connections and resources in NYC for us to be able to be with different immigrant groups almost every day that we’re there,” said Okesson. “They are doing great work and they will be the ones that we will be partnering with.”
The trip meets the requirements for CCE eligibility, since it fulfills the specific day and night requirements. The trip itself costs $770 and is all-inclusive while in New York City. However, airfare is not included, so students will have to meet the rest of the group at LaGuardia Airport at the designated time.
While logistics for arrival, itinerary and other aspects related to the trip are being determined, students should email Dr. Okesson directly if interested, since sign-ups are due March 1. Students can contact her through kim.okesson@asbury.edu, and Ashley DeMichael at ashley.demichael@asbury.edu for more questions.
