BIHS Students Go on Communty Service Trip to Mexico
What are you doing this summer? Many of us look forward to relaxing, going on trips, and hanging out with friends; but this summer, 31 Berkeley International High School (BIHS) juniors will embark on a “service learning” trip to Mexico. This trip occurred last year for the first time when a group of teachers decided that, since BIHS was an internationally-minded school, it would be a good idea to incorporate an actual international trip into the curriculum. They tried to get the school board’s approval, but it wasn’t passed. Instead, the trip happened during the summer, and wasn’t officially allowed to be called the “BIHS Mexico trip.”
The restrictions caused by the lack of acceptance from the school board made fundraising the $22,000 necessary for the 41 students to travel very tough. Despite the difficulty, the students held bake-sales every Friday, had a letter writing campaign, and organized a garage sale. After all of their efforts, they finally managed to raise the necessary funds.
An organization called Global Works organized most of the trip itinerary. Pam and Biff Houldin created the organization after Hurricane Hugo devastated Puerto Rico in 1989. Global Works has connections with thirteen countries, and they facilitate groups of high school students to work with the villages as opposed to for the villages. Projects include building houses, assisting in rainforest conservation, and helping clean water initiatives. They combine community service with fun cultural experiences and geographic adventures.
Although Global Works offers many discounts and finds good deals, much fundraising still had to be done. “The thought of raising $22,000 was frightening at first, but it helped the group get to know each other really well,” said Marina Hunt, BIHS senior and BIHS leadership secretary, who went on the Mexico trip last year. The task of raising that much money is definitely daunting, but with the group working together, they came up with some creative ideas. They got together and generated a list of addresses compiled from everyone’s acquaintances, drafted a letter, and sent it out. This collective letter writing campaign alone raised about $10,000, almost half of their goal. They also held a major garage sale on Fourth Street that brought in over $3,000. In addition, the group held bake-sales at school every Friday. These efforts were the important ones that led to the bigger picture. “You'd be surprised how little things like that add up quickly,” said Rosalie Bihr, a junior going to Mexico this summer. The group effort led to more than just the funds. “Everyone made the most of the trip because we worked so hard to get there,” recalled Hunt.
In June, after finally raising all of the money, the group boarded the flight to Mexico. During their time there, they took part in many different activities and services. The group spent two days in a Mayan village and helped lay concrete to make houses safer and cleaner. The work was difficult at times. “We were working in 90 degree and hotter weather with about 90 percent humidity,” explained BIHS history teacher Ross Parker, one of the teachers who organized and attended the trip.
Although the work was hard, students agreed that it was definitely worth the effort to be able to work with the community and immerse themselves in a new culture. The trip incorporated many aspects of Mexican culture, including climbing pyramids, salsa lessons, scavenger hunts to improve Spanish skills, and swimming in cenotes (underwater caves). The program includes Spanish language immersion, but knowing Spanish is not necessary. “I don’t speak Spanish, but it was really fun to do this scavenger hunt asking strangers to ‘stick out their tongue’ in a language you didn’t know,” recalled Hunt.
In addition to integrating fun adventures with meaningful service work, the trip also serves another purpose for BIHS. Juniors and seniors in BIHS study the Americas, including Canadian and Latin American history in addition to US History. Given that BIHS is “really in-tune with exploring different cultures,” according to Bihr, going to Mexico is a very hands-on way for the students to bring to life what they have learned in the classroom. “This trip will provide rich curriculum and programmatic tie-ins in two distinct areas: academic content and enhancing personal and interpersonal development through the International Baccalaureate-Creativity, Action, and Service (IB-CAS) program,” wrote Parker in his letter to the Board of Education.
This year, the group of 31 juniors will embark on the same trip. “Since last year was our first year, we want to do the same trip again just to perfect it,” Parker explained. Although this year’s trip has a smaller number of students going, they still have to raise about the same amount of money as last year due to tough economic times. “I am actually excited to fundraise,” explained Bihr. “Personally I love doing community service and interacting with people and I think that fundraising for a specific trip or something I want to invest money in is a really good way to motivate myself to do so.”
The 31 students this year have to be a very driven group to accomplish this huge fundraising task. “We're going to be doing good things there,” explained Finn vann Krieken, a junior in this year’s group. “Building houses and similar things, so someone other than me is benefiting from me going.” Their task will take considerable effort, but with our help they will be able to accomplish it. Keep an eye out for updates and more information about how you can help support these students and their cause.
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