When you think of the border situation with Mexico, what do you think of? Poverty, violence, drugs? For many, it’s a distant issue that you’ll talk about in a Social Justice class and never really commit a lot of thought to since it seems so far away.
Taking a trip to El Paso to show people what the issue of...
It’s a warm and humid day in Nicaragua, dozens of elementary school children have gathered for a brand new day of school. However, when they arrive, they find an assortment of over 20 young men ranging from 14 to 18 years old and of every kind of ethnicity and physique. The kids introduce themselves to the Jesuit guys who...
The Jesuit Medical Society, which originated around 2000 courtesy of Mrs. Jan Jones (current freshmen biology teacher) and Mrs. Linda Messer (a former Jesuit teacher), organized its first mission trip in 2002, then to El Salvador. This first trip only happened due to the work of Dr. Michael Tolle ’82, a student of Mrs. Jones in 1978 who asked...
Day 7: Community + Waves
It’s the last day of dry Cocoa Puffs for breakfast. The people of Nicaragua look forward to playing some football (no, not American football – this is Central America.) With that into account, today will partially be a day of football with the Nicaraguans living in Rincon De Garcia.
After the excruciatingly long bus ride, I...
Day 3: Let the Work Begin
It’s work day – work day in the community. Today is the first day I truly immerse myself into the Nicaraguan culture and local population. Another 7:00 AM wakeup call and another excruciatingly long bus ride awaits.
We finally arrive at our destination, Rincon De Garcia.
I find my group shortly after devouring my lunch. With...
With the exception of Mexico and the Bahamas, I have never genuinely been outside the privileged first world, and even then I was ensconced within the pampered and tourist-friendly resorts and restaurants that are so radically different from the true landscape just miles away. In other words, I haven’t seen how the other half lives- or more accurately, the...
On March 21st, the Jesuit Medical Society sent off six students and teachers to poverty stricken Guatemala to bring much needed medical supplies to doctors there. Within a make shift pharmacy, science teachers Ms. Jan Jones, Mr. Max Von Schlehenried, and Mr. Ben Kirby dispensed valuable medical supplies, which you might remember donating earlier this year in your homeroom,...
In the first two weeks of summer, while most of the Jesuit community was watching its beloved Mavericks in the NBA Finals, 21 students and their three faculty chaperones geared up for something entirely different: a taste of Nicaragua. Students traded in their air-conditioners for small 6-inch fans, their beds for bunks, and their game-day burgers for rice and...
