BY CASSIDY GARRETT
Over spring break, 11 Savannah College of Art Design students, and four others, went on a mission trip to the Bahamas to paint a school bus for a local camp. The trip was coordinated by the Christian Student Fellowship (CSF), which has been meeting on campus for 15 years and is affiliated with Bull Street Baptist Church. The group meets Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. at Boundary Village at 701 W. Jones St. Mark Montgomery, 180/CSF Student Minister and SCAD graduate, said, “our purpose is to serve the community regardless of Christian affiliation.”
The bus that the group painted is used to pick up children in Nassau and neighboring islands, and carries them to the Adventure Learning Center, a day camp for young people. Often utilized as a field trip for nearby schools, the camp provides a petting zoo with various animals, as well as a planetarium. A jungle gym and a train ride also provide forms of entertainment to the children. At the end of the camp, the kids attend a puppet show that tells the story of Jesus and spreads the gospel.
This is the 12th time a group has assembled and gone on this trip, each time painting one or more buses, each with various themes. Originally, the group’s mission was to paint one 65-passenger bus, but they finished early and were able to paint an additional bus, and touch-up another. On one bus, the artists painted beaches, mountains, pyramids, cityscapes and children going through this “adventure.” The second was a blue Ocean Bus, to which the group added sea creatures and waves to make it livelier. The buses are painted to make them stand apart from the solid-colored buses used to transport prisoners on the island.
The artwork was a collaborative effort between the students, who come from a variety of majors. “I believe the students get both practical experiences in completing tasks which uses their skills as artists and the opportunity to serve others with those skills,” said Montgomery. The group got a chance to see some of the children they were painting the bus for. The youngsters were overjoyed because, for them, visiting the camp is like going to a theme park. Members on the trip interacted with local Bahamians throughout the week. They attended a church service and also met other missionaries and bible college students. When the group was not working on the buses, they had devotional and worship time with one another, enjoyed Paradise Island, walked through the straw market and visited the beach.
First-year fibers student Melissa Gallagher went on the trip, as she wanted to do something different for spring break. “This trip was an amazing experience. I’m glad that I got to spend my spring break the way I did,” she said.
Photo courtesy CSF
