Malachy Connor: Doing Good

At the spur of the moment, in mid-March right before having to inform schools of a decision, senior Malachy Connor decided to ignore his college acceptance letters and put off his first year of college. After hearing through a friend about a volunteer expedition organization, Camp International, Connor decided to look further into the programs they offered. Instead of going to KU, K-State or MU where he has been accepted, Connor chose to spend next year in Kenya doing community service.

“When it really came down to crunch time where I needed to decide, I just thought that I know how college would go for me,” Connor said. “For me, waking up to get to class is a struggle where I know I will just be sitting in a building and taking notes but waking up to go outside and help people sounds so much better.”

Connor will be spending five months in Kenya, leaving in September and coming back around winter break. Accompanied by 80 other students from across the world, Connor will work to support local people, protect endangered wildlife, improve local schools and medical centers and help coach sports in rural African communities.

Leading up to September, Connor will do much in preparation for his journey. Although he doesn’t know exactly what to expect for his training, he laughed and showed off the new hiking boots that he’s currently breaking in. Aside from physical preparation like getting used to walking in hiking boots, he will also have to mentally prepare himself to live with few luxuries, like hot showers and constant connection to social media, and be away from his family and friends.

“I’ve never been homesick before but for this lengthy of a journey I feel like I will miss some of my family and friends,” Connor said. “But I think that it will bring me closer to friends and family in the long run.”

Connor is hoping that this experience will open up more educational opportunities for him in the future. After returning from the five month expedition, he can choose to go back to Africa or another country in need of help for the rest of the school year or stay home and take classes to keep from being a year behind in school. Also, by participating in many hours of community service, he is wanting to improve his resume to possibly go to a college on the West Coast the following year.

“Of course afterwards I’ll be much more cultured and have a better perspective of the world and hopefully life,” Connor said. “I hope it makes me appreciate everything I have and I hope it motivates me to want to do more things like this down the road throughout life.”