Today is our last day with Cohort 5! This group of CUNY Service Corps volunteers has been engaging, inspiring, and hilarious. In the past two weeks, our teams have bonded over bad jokes, pouring rain, and hard work. They accepted every challenge with an open mind, pursued each new task with determination, and learned new skills with a positive attitude.
Along with finishing two houses, officially completing our work queue for the summer, and clearing 5,760 square feet of land for planting at one of the local farms, they also began the trail work to re-open the Vientos Alisios Trail in El Yunque– a trail that has been untouched since Hurricane Hugo in 1989. On top of all that, this cohort worked with our partner, Caras Con Causa, to reopen a highschool today.
Caras Con Causa has been working hard this past year to turn Guaynabo’s local highschool into Puerto Rico’s first ever charter school, named Escuela Con Causa. The first day of school is Wednesday, and the new staff and teachers for Escuela Con Causa could not be more excited. Although this school was still operational after Hurricane Maria, many of the classrooms were abandoned and have not been touched since the storm. Nearly two years later, art projects, homework, and textbooks are unmoved from how they were placed a few days before Maria.
Today, our group of volunteers revitalized these rooms to give the incoming students a fresh and clean learning environment. Vice President Marisol Quiñones aims to integrate a “holistic approach to education” by meeting the emotional needs of the students. These students have suffered greatly after Hurricane Maria, and Caras Con Causa wants to ensure their mental health is in good condition in order for them to excel in their education.
Cohort 5, thank you for your compassion for the future students of Escuela Con Causa! You did some amazing work here with us these past two weeks and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with you.
#funfriday #flashbackfriday #nechamacommunity #manywaysofgiving