Summer 2025 Delta Upsilon Quarterly
15 Years of the Global Service Initiative
The Global Service Initiative serves as Delta Upsilon’s international service project and philanthropy, and 2025 marks its 15th year! Learn more about the program and take a trip down memory lane in honor of this special anniversary.
What is GSI?
Since 2011, DU and GSI have taken students to Jamaica for service immersion trips where they are engaged in direct, hands-on service. Each day of the seven-day trip includes a reflection designed to help participants explore how they have been impacted and influenced by the experience, as well as how their work relates to each of DU’s Principles. Much of the work has been with Jamaican schools on construction, renovation and beautification projects.
To help fund the GSI experience, each DU chapter is asked to raise money for the program. Philanthropy events, such as pancake dinners, car shows, bowl-a-thons, haunted houses and more, raise money for various GSI expenses. These expenses include building materials, cement, lumber and tools, as well as pay for local laborers.
Over time, GSI has also grown to include Regional GSI events that bring the program’s curriculum closer to home. On these domestic service projects, nearby chapters partner together to address a community need and reflect on the experience. Regional GSI activities are typically one-day experiences, though the Fraternity has held multi-day experiences in New Orleans, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.
"I grew to understand that service is not only a way to benefit a community in need, but also to develop immensely powerful character traits and a renewed passion for the things that matter most in life." - Will Drury, Cal Poly ’22
May 2010 GSI pilot trip to Jamaica
May 2025 GSI trip to Jamaica
History of GSI
In 2009, the Fraternity’s International President, Dr. Bernard Franklin, Kansas State ’75, convened a President’s Task Force with the mission of exploring the relevance of the social fraternity on the 21st century college campus and in an emerging global economy.
Around this same time, DU Executive Director Justin Kirk, Boise State ’00, traveled to Jamaica for a friend’s wedding and was introduced to Kaye Schendel, the Assistant Director of University Centers at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, who was on the island coordinating an Alternative Spring Break trip for UWL students. Schendel was an advocate for providing students with an experience that would take them beyond an all-inclusive party vacation and better show them the culture and pride of the country. Then Fraternity Board member John Duncan, Oregon State ’00, and staff member Andy Bergman, were also at this wedding, and as the group continued to talk, someone wondered aloud why such an experience couldn’t be replicated for members of a national fraternity. Here, the idea for GSI was born.
Understanding that such a service-immersion experience connected with the goal of the President’s Task Force, in summer 2009, the Fraternity’s Board of Directors gave the initiative unanimous support, and a pilot trip was planned for May 2010. During that May trip, eight students joined Schendel, Kirk, Duncan and Bergman for a week of service and intentional conversations around global issues and the importance of serving others. This pilot trip was a catalyst for developing a multi-year strategy for the future of the Global Service Initiative, which became Delta Upsilon’s official international service project and philanthropy in 2011.
Schendel went on to join the DU staff as Director of Global Initiatives and retired in 2020. She still serves as a consultant for DU and attends most GSI trips to Jamaica.
"It is because of programs like this that I am proud to call myself a DU man, knowing that the undergrads, alumni, and the organization as a whole is so committed to what it preaches, fighting injustices and promoting our principles on a global level." - Britt Taylor, NC State ’13
Kaye Schendel with Higher Heights students in 2020
January 2017 GSI trip to Jamaica
Higher Heights Academy
Over the past 15 years, Delta Upsilon and the GSI have worked with a number of schools and youth organizations in Jamaica, primarily on construction, renovation and beautification projects. Thanks to connections DU and Schendel have developed over time with Jamaica’s Ministry of Education and Youth, the Fraternity is put in contact with schools needing assistance. In 2017, DU was connected with Higher Heights Academy in Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica, and continues to work with the school to this day.
At the time DU began working with Higher Heights, the school’s principal, Miss Kerene, had just one room, a small group of students and a dream. Early childhood education is hard to access in Jamaica, and she wanted to provide a safe, educational experience for children in her community. With DU’s help, today, Higher Heights Academy is now certified by the Jamaican Early Childhood Commission and has eight classrooms and a playground for its 130+ students.
Delta Upsilon has worked on a number of projects for Higher Heights including building classrooms, constructing a playground, roof repairs, fence building, driveway pavement and more.
Higher Heights Academy in 2017
Higher Heights Academy in 2023
GSI By the Numbers
GSI Timeline
(click to enlarge)
