Grinding coffee beans to grinding homework
Inspired by preschools for immigrants, Costa Rican coffee fields and teen programs, Bethel student pursues her studies in social work.
By Rae Lee| Clarion Correspondent
Maddie Hutchins rushed out of her bed, throwing her blankets to the side. All four of her phone alarms had already rung. Late to her first social work class, she ran from her bedroom to the bathroom and finally to the kitchen. Hutchins wolfed down a mint chocolate chip Clif Bar while she turned on her Keurig machine. Out came the first splash. The mug began to fill with rich chocolate-brown coffee.
A year earlier, Hutchins lived in Costa Rica on an organic coffee farm. In her back yard grew rows of trees, abundant with red coffee cherries ready to be picked and roasted. She started her day off by steeping her own coffee: 20 minutes to boil water, five minutes for the coffee to drip through the cotton filters.
In August 2013, Hutchins, 13, packed her entire life into seven suitcases. Following her mother on her missionary trip, Hutchins moved from the suburbs of Minnesota to the mountains of Costa Rica. Their living space became half a house, shared with their host family and complete with concrete walls topped with a tin roof. Although she helped on the farm, her host family employed Nicaraguan immigrants to harvest most of the beans.
Looking for a way to escape their poverty back home, Nicaraguan migrants work on Costa Rican coffee farms for minimum wage. However, while the parents worked in the field, their children stayed alone in the 17-person hut. During spring, rain poured through the cracks of their tin roofs. The rain mixed with the bare dirt floor often caused mudslides.
Because of neglect, one Nicaraguan boy developed parasites that began crawling out of the 4-year-old’s nose. Originally coming from his intestines, the parasites made their way to his throat and began to choke him. Hutchins and her mother tried to take the boy back to their facilities, even offering to pay for his medicine. The boy’s mother grabbed him away. She plead to them, saying she’ll be deported if immigration found them.
“She has a huge heart and loves to serve other people.”–Mariela Hutchins, sister
Her mother, Jill Hutchins, started a preschool for these children. A safe space that provided medicine, food and running water. Hutchins would spend hours visiting the children. She helped prepare their food, watched them ride on toy bikes and taught them English. A specific English quiz game involved taping painted paper plates onto the walls of the preschool. While Hutchins named off colors in English, the children raced to each end of the classroom, looking for the matching colored plate. After getting them right, the kids received vanilla cupcakes as a reward.
“She has a huge heart and loves to serve other people,” sister Mariela Hutchins said.
“I saw a lot of people suffering from things that could have been solved and there was nothing I could do about it.”–Maddie Hutchins, social work student
In 2018, after living in Costa Rica for five years, Hutchins and her sister, Mariela, moved back to Minnesota. She already received her acceptance to Bethel University, but as she looked through the long list of majors, Hutchins hadn’t yet decided what she wanted to study.
“I saw a lot of people suffering from things that could have been solved and there was nothing I could do about it,” Hutchins said. “As soon as I saw social work, I realized this is what I wanted to do.”
Now, she’s a junior majoring in social work and TESL, teaching English as a second language.
“I’m focusing on public health and chemical exposure in foreign countries,” said Hutchins. “I started to realize how many countries that I went to were dealing with chemical exposure.”
Costa Rica uses more agricultural chemicals than any other nation. The constant cycle of pesticides and fertilizer leads to cancers and genetic deformities in the workers who harvest the fields.
After attending class, Hutchins drives off-campus to her internship at the Quincy House, a program that provides guidance to at-risk teens. During a lesson on the effects of being a leader, Hutchins created a game called frog. All the students gathered in a circle while one student stood in the middle. Hutchins appointed another student as the leader, and he began clapping quietly. All the other students looked side to side trying to copy the leader while the leader tried not to be caught by the student in the middle. Afterward, Hutchins explained how the game exemplified the ripple effect and the importance of being a good example.
“Her passion for the field is wonderful and will take her far.”–Sarah Tahtinen-Pacheco, Bethel University Professor
Finally done with her classes and internship, she begins her long list of to-do’s. The clock reads 3:00 a.m. Left with only an empty coffee mug and a stack of worksheets. Driven, Hutchins finishes the last of her social work homework.
“Her passion for the field is wonderful and will take her far,” Professor Sarah Tahtinen-Pacheco said.
