Student Volunteers Spread Hope and Build a Home
Over the Christmas break, a group of 18 Upper School freshmen and sophomores (and four chaperones) traveled to the Dominican Republic to participate in the “Homes for Hope” service project, coordinated by the nonprofit agency Youth With a Mission (YWAM).
Until recently, the “DR Trip” was the sophomore class’s end-of-year experiential learning trip. But with spring trips more closely aligned to the curriculum going forward, the Dominican Republic service trip was offered as an optional activity this year. As a result, it took place during vacation time, and students and their families had to contribute toward the cost of travel as well as building supplies. To earn their $250/per person contribution toward supplies, students baked, raked leaves, babysat, and more.
Upper School Boys’ Dorm house pop Nathan Sablan, one of the chaperones, saw a great deal of learning during the group’s week in the Dominican Republic. Not only did our “students learn about how different social, political, and economic situations have an effect on a community or culture,” he observed, but they “learned that material objects don’t necessarily determine your happiness.”
The Principia group put heart and soul into building a house for the Rodríguez family to replace the leaky shack made of corrugated metal and wooden slats where they had lived for 20 years. The family (mother, son, and daughter) now have a home that sits on a concrete foundation, has windows and doors to keep the rain out, and is wired for electricity. The Rodríguezes and their neighbors helped with the building and thanked the Principians with a delicious home-cooked meal on the last day. (View a YWAM slideshow of our students working and mingling with local residents and children.)