Costs are rising for some trips, and students and families must find ways to pay.

Juniors have selected their Christian Service trips for 2018. Students are charged with raising a portion of their travel expenses, while the remaining expenses are subsidized by the Christian Service program.

Trips to South Africa and Fiji are priced at $2,000 for students, while the other trips to Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, New Orleans, Peru, and Houston are priced at $1,600. This represents an increase in cost from 2017 for some of the trips.

“Last year’s service trip did not include insurance, and then because of the rises in airfare and that type of stuff, we needed to increase the prices,” Christian Service Coordinator Mr. Stephen Borish said.

According to Borish and Christian Service Coordinator Mrs. Kimberly Wright, there are multiple ways a student can pay for his trip.

“In the past, students have asked family members, their parish,” Borish said. “I know students in the past have gone and done collections at their parish where they’ll get up and say ‘I’m going on a trip, this is what I’m doing, at the end of the service I’ll have a collection if you’d like to donate money.’ Other kids have made t-shirts.”

Borish said that other students reach out to organizations or companies. “A lot of companies dedicate a good amount of money to organizations or people who are going to do some sort of goodwill.”

Some students come up with creative ways to raise the funds for the trips.

“One year a student made luggage tags. His father had a business that produced these luggage tags and he sold luggage tags that had Malvern Prep on it,” Wright said.

Other students, like seniors John Connors and Dave Wiener, used more traditional methods to raise their money.

“I had a job for two years beforehand, so I used all the money I had saved up to pay for the trip. I actually worked here, I teach swim lessons at the pool,” Connors said.

Wiener raised the money by asking for it. “First thing I did was I went door to door around my neighborhood asking my close friends who lived there, and then I asked family, brothers, cousins, and grandparents,” he said.

Although some students might be concerned about raising the funds for the trip, it is mandatory that students complete the service trip after junior year as part of their graduation commitment.

Luckily for students and families, an endowment for the Christian Service program covers 50% of the expenses for the trip. However, if a student is struggling to raise the funds, he should reach out to Malvern’s administration, according to Borish.

According to Wright, there are rarely times when a student can’t raise enough money.

“A lot of students actually collect more money than they need, they are so successful at collecting donations that they have excess,” said Wright.

Borish, who is also a 2010 alumnus of Malvern, said he went to Peru and loved it.

“I went to Peru and I went with Ms. Cirone [Mrs. Nicole Wilkinson] and Mr. [Jim] Stewart,” Borish said. “It was just an awesome experience. I spoke Spanish, so I was able to communicate with people, but it was really cool to hear their story and realize that you might meet somebody, and they might live in a super small hut, but they wake up every morning with a smile and are happy.”

Borish stressed the importance of revisiting a site.

“What we see in a lot of communities we work with is we come in, do some sort of work, and because there’s something going on in the community itself or in the government, the issues are never resolved,” he said. “So it’s really important that we build communities that we consistently go back to and help to make sure that they know that it’s important to work on the thing we say we’re going to work on.”

Wright said that every student she has spoken to after his trip loved it. “I don’t know anybody who did not totally enjoy the experience,” she said.