A group of Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) students soon will travel to Uganda for a service-learning experience that promises to be both life-changing and impactful. As part of the 2025 Whitten Fellows Service-Learning Project, 10 students will visit St. Monica’s Girls Tailoring Center in Gulu, Uganda, from May 19 to June 1. The trip is organized in partnership with the Whitten-Newman Family Foundation.
The Whitten Fellows program, funded by the Whitten-Newman Family Foundation and the OCCC Division of Student Affairs, empowers students to explore global citizenship through service, cross-cultural exchange, and advocacy. The goal is simple: promote education, support marginalized communities, and share powerful stories of hope.
OCCC student Amber Norvell will be traveling to Uganda for a second time, this time as a Whitten Fellow.
“This trip changed my life last year,” she said. “I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to return to Uganda this year. I look forward to contributing to meaningful service to the school and strengthening the bonds with the women and sisters at St. Monica’s.”
This year’s trip places an added emphasis on experiential learning. In the six weeks leading up to departure, students studied Uganda’s history, including the legacy of war and the transformation led by Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe at St. Monica’s. Each Whitten Fellow developed a project tied to their field of study — including health care, education, media or social services — with a focus on observation, healing, and sustainability.
“They’re not just volunteering on this trip,” said Crystal Mohamed, trip coordinator and director of OCCC’s TRIO programs. “This is a fully immersive experience in humanitarian work. This year, students are not only observing and giving back, they are creating meaningful projects that tie directly into their academic work. It’s an honor to return and be part of this next chapter.”
While in Uganda, the Whitten Fellows will assist with operations at the St. Monica’s Girls Tailoring Center, a home and school for women and girls whose lives have been shattered by violence, rape, and sexual exploitation. Since 2002, the center has served more than 5,000 girls who had been abducted and abandoned by their families, giving them ways to support themselves through job training in tailoring, catering, and other practical skills to restore dignity, independence, and hope.
St. Monica’s is run by Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, humanitarian and subject of the book “Sewing Hope.” A Catholic nun of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sister Rosemary has received a CNN Hero award and the United Nations Impact Award and was honored as one of “Time” magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014.
For more information on the Whitten-Newman Family Foundation and Sister Rosemary, click here.
To support OCCC programs, click here to connect with the Foundation for Oklahoma City Community College.
