WINTER PARK, Fla. (August 27, 2012) - This past summer, two current Rollins soccer players, senior Whitney Rohrer and sophomore Sarah Carey, traveled the world looking to make a difference.

Rohrer spent her summer in Mossel Bay, South Africa with a company called Oceans Research. Oceans Research specializes in investigating the biology of marine mega-fauna, including sharks, rays, marine mammals and turtles, and advises governmental, non-governmental and industry on relevant conservation issues. Oceans Research offers practical and theoretical training for aspiring marine scientists from internship to postgraduate levels in conjunction with partner schools, technical colleges and universities.

"My job was to travel to children's schools all along the Garden Route of South Africa and give presentations on shark and ocean conservation," she said.

"The schools I visited ranged from the very privileged, upper class private schools to schools in townships where kids didn't even have shoes and didn't speak any English at all. The whole country was so beautiful and it was amazing getting to travel around and experience so many different things."

"On the weekend we had free time to travel and I got to do the most amazing things. I went on a safari, rode an elephant and an ostrich, got to pet a cheetah, tried the world's highest bungee jump, went free diving with sharks and cage diving with great whites. I met some outstanding people and had an unbelievable time."

Carey spent her summer with a student run Rollins organization called Making Lives Better (MLB). Making Lives Better seeks to do just that- make the lives of the unfortunate, destitute, and impoverished better. They intend to accomplish those goals..."through a ceaseless sense of duty, a strong will towards development along with personal growth, a pursuit of leadership in a world of apathy, and the unselfish desire to ease the suffering of those shackled in poverty and despair..."

A total of 11 students, including Carey, alumni, and Rollins faculty traveled to Nepal to learn about the culture and ways of life in both rural and urban parts of the country.

"We stayed in Kathmandu and traveled to various temples and sights in order to gain experience about the impact of Hinduism/Buddhism," she explained.

"We also did the sorts of usual tourist things like hiking to see the beautiful views from the mountains, shopping and eating in local restaurants. In terms of our service work, we worked in the rural district of Nepal known as Doti. It was there that we partnered with the Sagamartha Health Foundation (SHP) to hold a health camp that successfully completed over 500 dental and general surgeries as well as provided health education."

"The students also lead a project where we worked with an elementary school in the area and through donations, we were able to provide them with back packs full of school supplies for a whole year. We played sports with the children, taught them the basics of living a healthy life and did art projects."

"We also worked on a project known as Mission Aqua and we supplied the school with a water purification system that they can use in order to have access to safe, fresh water which is very hard to come by in all of Nepal."

She went on to say..."there were far too many memorable things about the trip, but being able to see the other side of the world and be able to interact with a very hospitable, gentile culture of people left the best impact. The relationships I was able to form with the doctors of the SHF, the native people, dignitaries in Nepal and the students/faculty I traveled with were wonderful and through these relationships I very much look forward to going back again and continuing to pursue the goals of Making Lives Better!"

Fans can follow Rohrer and Carey, along with the rest of the Rollins women's soccer team, all season long on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com.