04/13/12 ema

HAYS, Kan. -- Thirteen students from Fort Hays State University's Modern Languages and Geosciences Departments will recount their service learning experiences at the Los Amigos De Chimbote mission in Peru. The presentation is at 3:30 p.m. Monday, April 16, in Tomanek Hall, room 225.

The students were led by Dr. John Heinrichs, chair of the Department of Geosciences, Dr. Rosa Maria Castaneda, instructor of modern languages, and Dr. Evelyn Toft, chair of the Department of Modern Languages.

Friends of Chimbote is a faith-based organization dedicated to supporting programs that improve and transform the lives of the poor of Chimbote, Peru.

Aside from working at the mission, they also visited Lima, Peru, and stayed in the city of Huaraz in the Andes Mountains. The students experienced Hauscaran Park, an important nature reserve, and Yunguy, the site of a devastating avalanche that killed 20,000 in 1970. The group visited the archeological site of Caral, which is 1,000 years older than the earliest known civilizations in the Americas. Caral is as old as the pyramids of Egypt.

For more information, contact Rhonda Baker, Modern Languages Department, at 785-628-4244.