A group of 11 Onondaga Community College students spent spring break together in a tropical climate, but they weren't there to have fun. The students were all Meg O'Connell Social Justice Scholars who made a life-changing trip to Puerto Rico for a week of service-learning. "Experiencing a different culture and going through the hard work together as a group, we came out of the trip a lot stronger than we went in," said student Sylvia LeBaron. "It opened my eyes to other communities and cultures and how they exist. It was really cool."
The students arrived late on the night of Saturday, March 15, and got to work the next morning. Most days, students did physically demanding work, but they did have a few opportunities to enjoy the warmer climate:
- Sunday - farm and agricultural work, built stalls for animals.
- Monday - cleaned up a beach impacted by a hurricane.
- Tuesday - worked in a rainforest digging trenches so water would drain properly when it rained. "We hiked miles carrying equipment," said student Alexis Rios. "The work we did was hard. Afterwards we were like, 'wow. we did that!'"
- Wednesday - a play day! Students snorkeled in San Juan.
- Thursday - worked in a tree nursery in the morning, had free time in Old San Juan in the afternoon.
- Friday - cleaned up around camp, painted and did power washing.
- Saturday - traveled back to Syracuse.
"I come from a perspective of being introverted. My interests are in computers which are a very solitary hobby and career," said Madi Morse. "I was brought out of my comfort zone to do things I wouldn't normally do, socializing with people 24/7, and learning about Puerto Rico. It was all very eye-opening for me."
Students will have the opportunity to meet with Meg O'Connell later this month, share their stories, and express their gratitude for how the experience impacted them. "I hope she will take pride and satisfaction in that she enabled us to be part of such an amazing program which exposed us to philanthropy and community work," said Rios. "She created an opportunity for us that you would normally expect from a four-year school. We are so grateful," said LeBaron.
