Students spend April break focused on service project in the Dominican Republic
By Victoria Dolan
During April break, around 15 students traveled to the Dominican Republic to help serve the community and experience a different culture as part of Project Humanitarian Involvement.
A WORKING VACATION. During their April school break, about 15 Hull High students traveled to the Dominican Republic to serve the community, including improving school facilities and providing assistance with other projects for local children. The Hull students are members of Project Humanitarian Involvement. [Courtesy photo]
Project Humanitarian Involvement, or PHI, is a club that focuses on humanitarian-based service. The club worked with the DREAM project, which works on creating opportunities for people in the Dominican Republic, such as improving literacy skills and academics, as well as providing health information and legal services.
“They do a lot of work with younger kids,” explained club advisor Daniel O’Donnell, “and that’s what our work focused around.” During their week-long trip, the group painted walls, murals, and handicapped-accessible signs for schools. They also spent time playing with young local kids, which “was everyone’s favorite activity.”
However, the trip wasn’t all work and no play. In between serving the community, students participated in a surfing class, swam in a lagoon, and took tours of museums, cultural neighborhoods, and a mangrove swamp.
O’Donnell chose to take on responsibility with the club after the former advisor stepped down because he “always loved traveling,” and “wanted to share that with the students.”
Also supervising on the trip was guidance secretary Julie Galluzzo. Asked to join the trip due to her Spanish fluency and familiarity with participating students, Galluzzo said the students were “wonderful to travel with” and “their behavior was exceptional.”
Both Galluzzo and O’Donnell think the students took home valuable lessons from their time in the Dominican Republic. Not only did they brush up on their Spanish speaking skills, but O’Donnell thinks they “were able to learn a lot about being flexible and going with the flow” as plans changed throughout the trip.
Galluzzo noted that “a lot of kids reflected back on their own situation here, and how good they have it” compared to some of the extreme poverty they witnessed. “For some kids it was eye-opening.”
Victoria Dolan is The Hull Times school correspondent. This column reflects her student viewpoint. For questions or comments, please contact dolan.victorialani@gmail.com.