31,397?!?! Is that … how many gumballs are in the world’s largest gumball machine? How high the tallest mountain is? How many miles to travel around the world?
Guess again!
We are proud to announce that Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel travelers completed 31,397 HOURS of community service in 2011!
What an incredible impact the Westcoast Connection / 360° Student Travel travelers have made! From Hawaii, to Peru, to Alaska, to China and beyond, our participants have truly made a lasting impact on the communities they have worked with and learned so much in the process. Let’s take this opportunity to highlight some of the amazing projects that our trips have been involved with in the last few months…
In California groups had the opportunity to work with Habitat for Humanity and build and construct alongside the families that will be moving into these homes in the future. Whether it was lending a hand with painting, caulking or hammering, our trip members didn’t hesitate to pitch in and help the community they became a part of.
Last summer on our Community Service elective on our Pre-College Enrichment program in Barcelona, 14 of our trip members worked at the Juvenile Center with children aged 5-9 years old. It was an incredible opportunity for our participants to interact with disadvantaged children to bring smiles to their faces while teaching English and practicing their Spanish.
Our summer in Costa Rica was a very special one. With Habitat for Humanity, all of our Costa Rica programs together help construct 3 houses in San Ramon. From the initial groundbreaking through the laying of foundation, floors, and putting up walls we did it all. An incredible accomplishment! We also worked with the Costa Rica Humanitarian Foundation building a brand new classroom for a school. The final group was able to hand the keys over to the teachers.
Our programs in South Africa had the unique opportunity to volunteer with the Morhotso Clinic where we spent an evening cooking a huge soup for all of the orphans and children. The next day our groups were able to play with and serve our soup to the children who were either orphaned because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic or whose parents were being treated at the Clinic.
Heading down south to the Amazon Jungle on the Ecuador & the Galapagos Community Service program, our trip members spent time clearing a soccer field for the Quicha community. We spent time with the local community playing soccer and practicing each other’s languages.
Congratulations to all our travelers who contributed to some amazing community service projects around the world. An outstanding accomplishment that works out to be 3.5 years of community service in ONE SUMMER!
