Students who visited Israel during Christmas break are offering an information session on the Passages Israel program tonight in Lane 123 at 6 p.m.
Junior Fernando Bravo is coordinating the information session and said it will cover topics including trip logistics, the application process, the cost of attending, and trip itinerary.
“We are also having some students briefly share some highlights from their experience in Israel,” he said.
One of those students, senior David Swegle, said his trip to Israel with Passages was amazing.
“We had a phenomenal tour guide who was a wealth of knowledge and joy,” he said. “We had the opportunity to go to 5:30 a.m. Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which was my favorite part of the trip.”
Swegle said attending the Passages trip was one of his primary goals in college.
“Passages offers a great opportunity for Christian college students to both connect with their faith in the Holy Land and learn more about the current geopolitical situation in the region,” he said. “Hearing from other Hillsdale students who had traveled to Israel with Passages in prior years made me want to go even more.”
According to Bravo, students don’t have to plan on applying for Passages to attend the information session.
“All students who are even remotely curious about what a trip to Israel with Passages looks like should attend,” Bravo said. “There is no pressure to apply, and all we are looking to do is to share our experience to give students an idea of what to expect leading up to and during the trip.”
Students interested in attending should come with questions to gain more insight into traveling abroad, according to Bravo.
“Good questions to prepare might relate to the student’s favorite moments of the trip, how Passages navigates the denominational diversity of its participants, how the student’s view of Jewish-Christian relations was impacted by the trip, or any questions about what it is like to travel abroad,” Bravo said.
Swegle’s advice to students is to talk to those who have already gone on the Passages trip.
“We all had a great time and want others to experience Israel too,” he said.