Biology Students Plan Trip to Congo
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| Amy Sahlmann |
Amy Sahlmann, a senior at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is planning her second trip to Africa in less than a year.
By saving gifts and paychecks, Amy Sahlmann was able to fund a two-week humanitarian trip to Kenya during her winter break from college. Traveling solo and packing mosquito nets, toothbrushes, vitamins, lice kits, tissues, crayons, and board games for distribution, Sahlmann, a biology major, spent late December 2007 and early January 2008 at two orphanages—one for HIV-positive children and the other for boys who lost parents to AIDS or malaria.
Now Sahlmann is organizing a trip to the Congo Republic to work in a medical clinic. According to the Erie Times-News, Sahlmann and fellow Penn State Behrend biology student Julie Palmer are planning to leave July 26 on a flight that will make at least six stops en route to the remote town in west-central Africa. Click here for the full Erie Times-News article.
To help the raise funds for this humanitarian trip, Amy Sahlmann is organizing a pasta dinner for this Sunday, July 20, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Johnny’s Sports Bar, 1604 Pittsburgh Ave. in Erie. The event is open to the public and is $5 per person. Take-out orders will be available. All money raised will help defray the costs of the mission trip to the Congo Republic.
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| Sahlmann with photos and keepsakes from her trip to Kenya. |
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a comprehensive residential college offering 34 baccalaureate, six associate, four pre-professional and two graduate degree programs with 22 minors to more than 4,400 students. Focused on providing a student-centered environment, Penn State Behrend is the link that connects its students to a major research and land-grant institution on a campus enriched by more than 110 clubs and organizations, 21 NCAA varsity teams and 19 intramural sports.
Penn State Behrend is named in recognition of a donation by Mary Behrend, widow of Ernst Behrend, who founded the Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie in 1898. The Behrend family lived on the 400-acre Glenhill Farm, which is the core of the Penn State Behrend campus today.
For more information, visit behrend.psu.edu.