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Men's Lacrosse

Changing lives, giving back

MLAX sophomores Will Tessin and Raleigh Canady spent their final week of winter break in Costa Rica volunteering with FIMRC

During the final week of winter break, most students are enjoying their precious few days of sleeping in, no classes and enjoying time in their hometowns. For Albion men's lacrosse sophomores Will Tessin and Raleigh Canady, the two went to Costa Rica to help at clinics owned by Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC). 

Tessin, a Waxhaw, North Carolina native, is the one who started the FIMRC chapter at Albion this year. A Biology and Spanish major, he spent most of his time working as a translator with the physician's assistants and nurse practitioners. 

"This type of work is something that I feel strongly about," said Tessin. "Since I started this chapter at Albion, I wanted to get some experience as to what FIMRC really does. I invited Raleigh to come with – the vice president for FIMRC here."

As for Canady, an environmental engineering major, his jobs varied from clinic to clinic. 

"Since my Spanish is not the best, I worked various jobs at each clinic," said Canady. "I would help people get the right prescription glasses, take blood pressures and take general information like height and weight."

There were three clinics in total that Canady and Tessin helped at. All were located about 30 minutes outside of the country's capital, San Jose. Each clinic did the same thing, which was mainly administering medicine and giving diagnosis to the local patients who could not afford to go to the hospital. 

Canady and Tessin's efforts did not go unnoticed, as head men's lacrosse coach, Jake DeCola, was graced with a ravishing email from Dr. Janet Oberle, a volunteer from Saint Louis University that spent much of her trip with the two Britons. 

"In the volunteer work we did, Raleigh and Will were essential to the work last week in serving the local community.  We were able to see about 400 patients in 4 days at 3 separate clinic sites.  They were the most willing, open, heartfelt young people," said Oberle. 

Oberle went on to notice and compliment the individuals based on their skill sets that were utilized in Costa Rica. 

"Will's Spanish skills were put to full use as he served mostly as an interpreter for one of our providers.  Raleigh was pulled in so many directions - always willing to help in whatever way was needed.  He helped with intake, helped with pharmacy work, and supported the dental education program as well as helped many people get glasses that were the right strength (and looked good!).  Both of them had such great hearts for the work - always smiling, always upbeat, always willing to help in any way possible - even when they were pushed outside of their comfort zones."

Tessin and Canady were both able to take what they learned and apply it onto the lacrosse field. Just a few weeks away from defending their MIAA title, the duo reflect on how this can help both them, and their team, going forward.

"A lot of what I was doing was communicating with people and in lacrosse there is a lot of communication, especially in my position," said Tessin – a starting defenseman for the Brits. "Seeing the type of poverty that exists in these places helped me have a more open world view on life. Being open minded and accepting on a team is very important. You are putting a lot of guys with different backgrounds together to create a well oiled machine, and being stubborn or narrow minded will not aid in this process. This reaffirmed to me that being on a team always means putting the big purpose first; I was in Costa rica to help anyone I could, and if that meant counting pills or just going through documents then I will do that."

"Being able to learn what role you need to fill to best help the team run smoothly was something that I had to figure out every day if that meant working in the pharmacy filling prescriptions or trying my best to talk to patients and figure out what's wrong," added Canady.

The two both enthusiastically stated that they would do this experience again with no hesitation.
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Players Mentioned

Raleigh Canady

#36 Raleigh Canady

D
Sophomore
Will Tessin

#41 Will Tessin

D
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Raleigh Canady

#36 Raleigh Canady

Sophomore
D
Will Tessin

#41 Will Tessin

Sophomore
D