For most college undergrads, the summer break is a chance to head home and relax or make money working a part-time job. Some stay near campus to take classes.

For Rhode Island student-athletes Drew Siflinger and Meghan Ellis, this summer presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity filled with new challenges, life-changing experiences and personal growth. Siflinger and Ellis were two of 65 college student-athletes from around the United States who spent time working with underprivileged children in Vietnam through the Coach for College program.

The Vietnamese children in the program are low-income, rural youth who are at risk of dropping out of school. The families of the children rely on farming and make the equivalent of $200 to $300 per year, according to the Coach for College information site. Nearly all (94 percent) come from families in which the parents have a high school education or lower, and 65 percent of the children have at least one parent who did not advance beyond the ninth grade.

Both Siflinger and Ellis were in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam. Ellis, a sophomore on Rhody’s women’s rowing team, was there in May and June, while Siflinger, a redshirt sophomore football player, was there in June and July.

They spent their days teaching academics, coaching the children in sports and providing life skills counseling, each part of teams of U.S. and Vietnamese college students.

“I enjoy traveling, but what really drew me to this opportunity was the idea of working with kids,” Siflinger said. “I’ve worked as a camp counselor before, and it is a rewarding feeling to have a positive impact on the kids you work with.”

Siflinger and Ellis both applied for the program after receiving an email about it from URI Student-Athlete Affairs Coordinator Brittney Cross. Ellis said she was shocked when she got the email confirming her selection.

“When I looked at the list of people going, I saw student-athletes from Stanford, Duke, Princeton and Harvard,” Ellis said. “There were a lot of prominent schools represented, and we are the first two from Rhode Island to participate. That’s something to be proud of.”

Since 2008, Coach for College has had a significant impact on keeping Vietnamese children enrolled in school. The program has served nearly 1,500 Vietnamese youth from eight middle schools. The percentages of Coach for College participants still enrolled in schools after ninth grade was 71 percent, compared to 42 percent for the students who did not participate in Coach for College.