Katie Roupe | Daily Kent Stater Senior advertising major T.J. Prochaska holds the emergency escape open on bus two to help cool down the passengers on their way to Biloxi. The bus didn’t have a working air conditioner.”>

Katie Roupe | Daily Kent Stater Senior advertising major T.J. Prochaska holds the emergency escape open on bus two to help cool down the passengers on their way to Biloxi. The bus didn’t have a working air conditioner.

Credit: DKS Editors

Here we go

I’ll be leaving for Biloxi soon and I’m so exhausted. Because I am a nerd, I couldn’t fall asleep last night because I was so excited. I traveled to Biloxi last year on Spring Break with Kent State as a volunteer and had an awesome experience. It was such an amazing time to really make a difference, to listen to the residents’ stories and make some great friends. I came back from the trip with some incredible stories and memories. I’m pumped to see how this year will differ. I can’t wait until the moment when the bus starts to pull into areas I was in last year. …

–Katie Roupe

Just looking to help

I am 33, and I served five years in the army prior to enrolling at Kent State as an architecture major, although I’m not in the college yet. I’ll find out when and if I get accepted into the summer design sessions this summer. I’m really biting my nails on that one.

I am overjoyed about this trip. Being part of a university system is more than just classes and degrees, and this opportunity really demonstrates that fact. I have been a camp counselor, and taking care of the kids in a parental way filled my soul over that summer. I am expecting that helping out the folks in Biloxi will elicit similar emotions. …

–Marc Joslyn

On our way

For the amount of time we’ve been traveling -just over five hours – I’m tempted to write that we’re well underway. The truth, however, is we’ve just passed through Cincinnati. Currently, Katie Roupe and I are sitting on a curb at a shopping plaza in Florence, Ky., borrowing Wi-Fi from a nearby hotel.

Those riding on my bus, bus two, have had to deal with some sweltering temperatures during travel. Our bus is unpleasantly equipped with a busted air conditioning system. It was hotter inside the bus than it is expected to be in Biloxi. …

–Steven Bushong

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