Auburn students are spreading all over the globe after graduation, from Colorado all the way to Spain. Three recent Auburn graduates are spending their time after graduation following their dreams. Trey Gross graduated in May 2014, with a degree in mechanical engineering. Now he is with Christ in the City, a Catholic organization in Denver, Colorado that works with the homeless.
"There's 14 missionaries here, every one of us goes out on the street and we meet the homeless directly where they're at," Gross said.
Gross said that their motto is to love until it hurts. He spends about 30 hours a week with Christ in the City, and every Wednesday they have a lunch in the park where they feed about 100 people.
Gross said that it is fairly easy for the homeless to get food in Denver, but that it's not always good food, so they cook better meals like pulled pork and pumpkin pie for their Wednesday lunches.
"A big part of our mission is developing relationships with the homeless," Gross said. "These homeless people are people and you can give them everything that they need, but they're still not going to be complete or whole unless you remind them that they're a person and they're not just an animal like a dog that you can just give food to them."
Meanwhile, across the globe, Cece Sherman is in Madrid, Spain. Sherman graduated in August of 2014, with a degree in political science and Spanish.
Sherman decided to go to Spain since she graduated early and wanted to take a year off before she goes to law school this fall.
Sherman is currently working as an English teacher at a public high school in Madrid. She makes extra money being a nanny when she's not working.
"I've been spending a lot of time exploring Madrid, or traveling to different parts of Spain," Sherman said. Sherman has been to Ibiza, Salamanca, and Zaragoza.
Sherman's favorite part so far has been meeting people from different countries.
"I live with a girl from Germany, Spain, Paris, and then two other Americans," Sherman said. "It's just been cool . . . hanging out with people from different countries and different cultures."
Alli Griffin graduated in May 2014, with a degree in exercise science. She is now working for a program at Murray State University in Kentucky called FOCUS.
FOCUS hires missionaries and sends them to different campuses across the country to lead small group Bible studies and to train other students on how to lead Bible studies.
"The college campus can be one of the darkest places in our world," Griffin said. "Everyone might to be physically poor, but we have real spiritual poverty."
Griffin said that when people join FOCUS they make a two-year commitment, but they can be relocated to another college the second year.
"We're really just here to support the students, to be friends with them, and to help them in whatever way they need, but most importantly to guide them spiritually," Griffin said. Griffin said that she is considering extending her commitment with FOCUS and making a career out if it instead of leaving after the two years.
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