Service Learning students aid Mexican families

For the past four years, students from the Scottsdale Unified School District’s Service Learning Program head south to Mexico to help those who are less fortunate than they are.

This year more than 150 Service Learning students have assisted in the Agua Prieta exchange. Last weekend 13 students from Chaparral and Coronado high schools spent one day in Agua Prieta building walls of a house out of tarpaper and siding, and painted a government elementary school for the community. The Mexican government does not provide paint, so parents had a barbecue to raise money to buy the paint and most of the equipment that the students used. Some of the students gained experience from previous trips, but most learn on the job.

“The students go to make a difference and to help give a greater sense of pride to the families that we work with,” said Rob Aguilar, Service Learning teacher at Coronado High School. “The students leave with a great sense of accomplishment because they can see where the project started with no walls or an unpainted school and when we leave they see all that has gone up and the coat of paint that has beautified the school,” he added.

In the past, the Service Learning students have gone to orphanages, schools and the barrios. They helped distribute community supplies, as well as working at Casa Asilo Hogar, where the students and their chaperones stay. They have helped with the building, grounds maintenance, working with and providing for the young girls and senior citizens who live in the compound. The students also built walls for houses, poured concrete foundations, dug trenches, installed plumbing for future use, taken donations of food clothing personal hygiene products, painted schools and worked with students from the Mexican schools.

“Our students often take for granted all that they have. This trip is very humbling for them. They gain an appreciation for all that they have and are much more aware of how the rest of the world lives,” said Jennie Blomquist, Service Learning teacher at Chaparral High School. “Many of the students think this is the best trip we take since they can actually see how much the time and effort they put in helps the people there,” she added.

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