feature
They were all far from home, but in the heart of downtown Lisbon, they discovered common ground.
A dozen Suffolk students on an Alternative Winter Break service-learning and leadership trip and a group of patients from Cape Verde spent hours sharing stories and learning about each other’s lives.
The gathering at Lisbon’s Centro Cultural de Cabo Verde was organized by the trip’s leader, Karen Gomes Andrade, a Cape Verdean native and president of Suffolk’s newly formed Kreyól/Kriolu Association, which raises awareness about Creole-speaking communities.
Serving as chief translator and facilitating introductions between the Suffolk students and the Cape Verdeans—who had traveled thousands of miles to Portugal for life-saving treatments for cancer, heart conditions, and other chronic illnesses—was intense, but deeply rewarding.
“I wouldn’t be doing justice to where I come from if I went to Portugal and didn’t connect with the important community work being done there,” said Gomes Andrade, a junior majoring in criminal justice whose family immigrated to New Bedford when she was 9. “Translating personal stories about immigration and illness was challenging. I wanted to be sure to capture the emotions behind them through my translation.”
“The people we met were going through something so hard, yet they were still ready to make us feel welcome,” added the trip’s co-leader, senior Morgan Coleman. The day was a highlight of an “incredible” weeklong journey that took the Suffolk undergrads to Lisbon, Nazaré, Óbidos, Sintra, and Cascais to partner with several nonprofit community organizations.
The trip also gave students the chance to meet with agency leaders, including Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento (FLAD), charged with strengthening US-Portugal relations, and for a conversation on leadership development with Natasha Silva, MPA ’15. An active volunteer during her time on campus, she spent seven years as a US congressional legislative staffer before moving to Portugal, where she now works for a Lisbon law firm.
An advertising major, Coleman has participated in multiple travel programs during her time at Suffolk. “Out-of-the-classroom learning is such a priority here,” she said, “and what you do in the world is part of what makes us most attractive to potential employers.”
For more than a decade, students in the Journey Leadership Program have been traveling to Barbados during spring break to explore leadership in a global context. There, they tour historic sites as well as local colleges, meet with campus and civic leaders, and experience the island’s culture through food, music, and discussions with Barbadian citizens.
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spring 2025
Photograph courtesy of Center for Community Engagement
By Erica Noonan
Photograph courtesy of Trina Bryant
They were all far from home, but in the heart of downtown Lisbon, they discovered common ground.
A dozen Suffolk students on an Alternative Winter Break service-learning and leadership trip and a group of patients from Cape Verde spent hours sharing stories and learning about each other’s lives.
The gathering at Lisbon’s Centro Cultural de Cabo Verde was organized by the trip’s leader, Karen Gomes Andrade, a Cape Verdean native and president of Suffolk’s newly formed Kreyól/Kriolu Association, which raises awareness about Creole-speaking communities.
Serving as chief translator and facilitating introductions between the Suffolk students and the Cape Verdeans—who had traveled thousands of miles to Portugal for life-saving treatments for cancer, heart conditions, and other chronic illnesses—was intense, but deeply rewarding.
“I wouldn’t be doing justice to where I come from if I went to Portugal and didn’t connect with the important community work being done there,” said Gomes Andrade, a junior majoring in criminal justice whose family immigrated to New Bedford when she was 9. “Translating personal stories about immigration and illness was challenging. I wanted to be sure to capture the emotions behind them through my translation.”
“The people we met were going through something so hard, yet they were still ready to make us feel welcome,” added the trip’s co-leader, senior Morgan Coleman. The day was a highlight of an “incredible” weeklong journey that took the Suffolk undergrads to Lisbon, Nazaré, Óbidos, Sintra, and Cascais to partner with several nonprofit community organizations.
The trip also gave students the chance to meet with agency leaders, including Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento (FLAD), charged with strengthening US-Portugal relations, and for a conversation on leadership development with Natasha Silva, MPA ’15. An active volunteer during her time on campus, she spent seven years as a US congressional legislative staffer before moving to Portugal, where she now works for a Lisbon law firm.
An advertising major, Coleman has participated in multiple travel programs during her time at Suffolk. “Out-of-the-classroom learning is such a priority here,” she said, “and what you do in the world is part of what makes us most attractive to potential employers.”
For more than a decade, students in the Journey Leadership Program have been traveling to Barbados during spring break to explore leadership in a global context. There, they tour historic sites as well as local colleges, meet with campus and civic leaders, and experience the island’s culture through food, music, and discussions with Barbadian citizens.
They were all far from home, but in the heart of downtown Lisbon, they discovered common ground.
A dozen Suffolk students on an Alternative Winter Break service-learning and leadership trip and a group of patients from Cape Verde spent hours sharing stories and learning about each other’s lives.
The gathering at Lisbon’s Centro Cultural de Cabo Verde was organized by the trip’s leader, Karen Gomes Andrade, a Cape Verdean native and president of Suffolk’s newly formed Kreyól/Kriolu Association, which raises awareness about Creole-speaking communities.
Serving as chief translator and facilitating introductions between the Suffolk students and the Cape Verdeans—who had traveled thousands of miles to Portugal for life-saving treatments for cancer, heart conditions, and other chronic illnesses—was intense, but deeply rewarding.
“I wouldn’t be doing justice to where I come from if I went to Portugal and didn’t connect with the important community work being done there,” said Gomes Andrade, a junior majoring in criminal justice whose family immigrated to New Bedford when she was 9. “Translating personal stories about immigration and illness was challenging. I wanted to be sure to capture the emotions behind them through my translation.”
“The people we met were going through something so hard, yet they were still ready to make us feel welcome,” added the trip’s co-leader, senior Morgan Coleman. The day was a highlight of an “incredible” weeklong journey that took the Suffolk undergrads to Lisbon, Nazaré, Óbidos, Sintra, and Cascais to partner with several nonprofit community organizations.
The trip also gave students the chance to meet with agency leaders, including Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento (FLAD), charged with strengthening US-Portugal relations, and for a conversation on leadership development with Natasha Silva, MPA ’15. An active volunteer during her time on campus, she spent seven years as a US congressional legislative staffer before moving to Portugal, where she now works for a Lisbon law firm.
An advertising major, Coleman has participated in multiple travel programs during her time at Suffolk. “Out-of-the-classroom learning is such a priority here,” she said, “and what you do in the world is part of what makes us most attractive to potential employers.”
For more than a decade, students in the Journey Leadership Program have been traveling to Barbados during spring break to explore leadership in a global context. There, they tour historic sites as well as local colleges, meet with campus and civic leaders, and experience the island’s culture through food, music, and discussions with Barbadian citizens.