Two Grand Canyon University students shared experiences from their recent educational mission trip to Madrid, Spain. Lexi Svoboda, a secondary education/mathematics major, and Sarah Mullisen, an elementary education major and Canyon Worship singer, were part of a group led by Dr. Shawna Martino, assistant professor in the College of Education.
Svoboda’s journey to the mission trip was marked by a significant health challenge. In her freshman year in 2023, she was diagnosed with a fast-growing cancerous tumor in her chest and underwent six months of chemotherapy in Southern California. She returned to campus after treatment and received support from fellow students who contributed leftover funds from the previous year’s mission trip toward her participation this May.
“It was tears of thankfulness for their generosity; they could’ve got that money back, but they decided to put it in a scholarship,” Svoboda said.
The mission team worked with Friendship House, a nonprofit community center teaching English to North African immigrants, and assisted at Evangelical Christian Academy for missionary families in Spain. The experience exposed GCU students to teaching immigrant populations—a skill relevant for those who may teach diverse groups after graduation.
“Many students haven’t been out of the country,” Martino said. “It’s a culture shock to go to a place where they don’t hear their language spoken. And they experience cultural differences. Some children are wearing burqas, and they can’t have boys and girls together.”
Martino described how students adapted during their ten-day service: “You see them start to figure it out: What do I do to help them understand the word I am saying or the concept? They would try different strategies and talk afterward.”
Reflecting on her experience working with children who had been uprooted from their home countries, Svoboda said: “These kids really do go through a lot… It’s like going through a traumatic event. They don’t feel at home.” She added that her own medical challenges helped her relate: “The trauma, wow, I know what that feels like… I know what it feels like to feel different and on the outside.”
Mullisen raised funds for the Canyon Global Educators trip but initially felt nervous as someone who had been homeschooled. In Spain she taught third grade under GCU alumna Hailey Pawley and led music sessions at Friendship House.
“We love your character, and you are the type of person we like to hire,” Mullisen recalled being told by the principal at Evangelical Christian School. “We would love to have you teach in the spring.”
Mullisen will return next January for an unpaid position at the school after completing student teaching in Tennessee this fall.
“But I think the highlight of the trip was seeing children that, no matter what country they are from, there is always a way to reach them through education,” Mullisen said.
For more information about Grand Canyon University’s educational programs visit https://www.gcu.edu/academics/colleges-degrees/college-education.
