 | | | Saklan students help rebuild homes in Puerto Rico. Photos provided | | | | | | At the end of March, The Saklan School's eighth-grade students traveled to Puerto Rico for a meaningful service-learning experience. The task at hand for the students while on the trip was to help rebuild houses destroyed by Hurricane Maria. To say the students' experience was purposeful would be an understatement.?
After arriving in San Juan and taking a day to tour and acclimate to Puerto Rico, the Saklan students started their home-building work. While Hurricane Maria was over four years ago, there is still much evidence of its destruction. Through the bus windows, the students saw the lush jungle taking over cars that had been swept up and dumped into ditches, houses without roofs, foundations where there used to be homes. And also new construction.?
Over three days, the Saklan students added to the new construction. They worked side-by-side with local community members prepping a worksite, using rebar to create reinforced walls and support beams, and then mixing and pouring 10 tons of concrete in two days, under the hot Caribbean sun.??
During this hard work, the students bonded with the families they were helping, interviewed community members about the impact of the hurricane and how it changed their lives, learned more about the Puerto Rican people and culture, and gained a tremendous sense of purpose.
The students thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Puerto Rico, and the opportunity to help out families in need. When asked about the trip, students Ryan and Anessa shared that "Puerto Rico was a blast that we will never forget."
To learn more about The Saklan School visit www.saklan.org. |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA