Over the March Break, a dedicated group of MacLachlan College students participated in a service trip to build a school in The Dominican Republic. To participate in the trip each student had to raise $500 to put towards the construction budget and bring a 50 pound bag of humanitarian aid. The entire group raised $20,000 which was just enough to build the school. The aid donations included medical supplies that were distributed during a medical clinic that the students assisted in, personal hygiene items and school bags that were distributed accordingly. The school is located in a rural village called Aguacate, about 30 minutes from Santiago. Each morning the students headed to the school site from their basic retreat accommodation to help with the building. The school was built from concrete block and cement. All the students are now very skilled in mixing, shoveling and bucket passing cement! Everyone worked extremely hard on the construction site over the 10 days and the finished product was a brand new school. The students had a life changing experience building the school and were instrumental is changing the life of every child in the Aquacate village. Smiles, tears and many thanks were exchanged at the official ceremony on the group’s last day.
