“Out of Wac” with Nikki Thompson

By Nikki Thompson Last spring break, I went on a trip in partnership with the Texas Hunger Initiative and Baylor Missions. The purpose of the trip was simply to spend a week with in Lubbock and learn about the lives of the people who struggle with poverty. Our team engaged in a very different type…

By Nikki Thompson (Image courtesy of World Hunger Relief, Inc.) Waco is a hotspot for hunger-related issues. Residents who struggle with poverty often deal with food insecurity. That, paired with the food deserts in Waco, results in a vicious cycle of eating unhealthy foods because they are the most readily available, getting sick, and being…

Image courtesy of Pablo Gonzales   As some of you may already know, Westboro Baptist Church visited Waco last Sunday, September 10. Westboro Baptist Church is based out of Topeka, Kansas and has been widely denounced by Christian organizations (such as World Baptist Alliance, the Southern Baptist Convention, and others) for their hateful ideologies. A…

At the end of the 2015-2016 school year, Waco ISD reported that 1,600 students (out of the 15,000 total student population) struggled with homelessness. This number increased by 500 from the previous year. Though economic factors and families moving to Waco from out of town certainly caused…

Before Mission Waco opened the Jubilee Food Market, the North Waco neighborhood qualified as a food desert. This means that the closest grocery store was over two miles away (specifically, 2.2 miles away). This may not seem like a problem to Baylor students. Most of…

As college students, we may find ourselves perpetuating the myth that we eat nothing but ramen to save cash. While this is certainly true for some students, especially at an expensive institution such as Baylor, much of this can be confidently labeled an urban legend. In…

A sense of irony accompanies the fact that Baylor University, a college renowned for its academic excellence, shares a city with a struggling public school system. After the 2013-2014 school year, ten schools within Waco I.S.D. were failing to meet state-mandated accountability ratings. These…

Outside the boundaries of Baylor’s extravagant and meticulously groomed campus looms the ever-present poverty of Waco. Though college students often make remarks about their lack of money, few find themselves in the predicaments of their fellow Wacoans. People find themselves working jobs they never anticipated;…

Photo courtesy of Ke’Sha Lopez It is easy to forget that a world exists outside of Baylor University. Generally, students spend the majority of their time within the boundaries of Baylor. We go to class, study, and usually live quite close to campus. While Baylor offers a beautiful environment for living and learning, it cultivates…