By Michael Banks
CLARKSDALE – On the grounds of a church that was formed in the days of segregation, white students from a Minnesota college entertained and formed friendships with black children from Clarksdale on a recent weekday afternoon.
This marks the ninth year that students from St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul and Minneapolis, have come to Clarksdale to assist and learn more about the people of the Mississippi Delta. They are here for two weeks to learn more about others and also about themselves.
For Abby McCall, a Superior, Wis., native who is in the final year of the graduate program at St. Catherine’s, this was her first trip to the Delta.
“Every experience has been eye-opening, but the people are very hospitable and welcoming. It’s been very inviting,” said McCall, who has plans to be a physical therapist and work with patients who have suffered brain injuries.
“It was my hope to be exposed to people and work more with children,” she said. “I really like being able to interact with the kids on a personal level.”
In the afternoons, the nine St. Catherine students conducted an afterschool camp for children ages 5 to 14. The camp was held on the grounds of and with the assistance of members of the Immaculate Conception Parish.

During the mornings, the students did volunteer work at the Care Station and exercised with clients at the S.L.A. Jones Senior Activity Center and the students at George H. Oliver Elementary School. They also spent time ministering to the patients at the Clarksdale Children’s Clinic.
David Chapman, an associate professor at St. Catherine’s, said it is the program’s goal to promote physical activity and fitness, as well as increase awareness of good nutrition for all age groups.
“Hopefully we’re able to meet some needs of the community and learn social and political structure and how it impacts health,” Chapman said.
During the two weeks they are in Clarksdale, the students stay in the former sister’s rectory on the church campus. The weekend was filled with a night at the Ground Zero Blues Club and then a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum and blues festival in Memphis, Tenn. Sunday consisted of a trip to Oxford and a visit to Ole Miss.
The visit is part of a one-credit course for the students, Chapman said. Once they return to campus, each student will give a two-minute, self-reflection report to their classmates on what the experience meant to them.
“If anything, it helps them be aware of their own biases they may have,” Chapman said, noting that this if often the first trip to the Deep South for most of the students.
They learn “cultural competence” and become mindful of how things are done in different parts of the country, as well as the social, economic and political influences of each community and their impact on health care.
The program came about due to a collaboration between the late Sister Manette Durand, who was a Midwestern native but was serving in Clarksdale, and Dr. Jyothi Gupta, an instructor at St. Catherine’s. Sister Manette, who passed away in October 2015, was a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, which helped form St. Catherine’s University in 1905.
Christine McDaniel, a member of Immaculate Conception and one of those who works behind the scenes in organizing the event each year, said there have been years when they have close to 100 children in the afterschool camp.
And while church members give the students “a taste of the Delta” with a soul food supper of smothered cabbage, barbecued neck bones, corn on the cob, collared greens and cobbler cake, she believes both the students and Clarksdale benefit.
“The last day is the most emotional,” McDaniel said. “We see a lot of hugs and tears.”

(This story was reprinted with permission from the Clarksdale Press Register.)