Temple volunteers work with a local service organization to improve the cooking conditions at Escuela Oficial Rula Mixta de Choatalun, an elementary school located in a rural Guatemalan village.
From west Philadelphia to Central America, a number of Temple University students spent their spring break working to improve underserved communities.
Temple volunteers sponsored a weeklong trip to Choatalun, Guatemala, where students worked with a local service organization to improve the cooking conditions at Escuela Oficial Rula Mixta de Choatalun, an elementary school located in a rural Guatemalan village.
During the service trip, students worked to replace a dilapidated cooking shed with a new kitchen where all of the elementary school’s meals will be prepared.
The week in Guatemala was one of two Alternative Break Immersion Trips organized by the Office of Community Relations each year. The next trip will be during winter break 2008; details and applications will be available in the fall.
Throughout the year, opportunities to volunteer are available in Temple’s surrounding communities.
Closer to home, several students participated in tree-planting projects in West Philadelphia and Kensington, as well as in Mississippi and Louisiana. More than 20 students spent the two consecutive weekends working with local beautification organizations in Philadelphia neighborhoods, cleaning and planting trees.
In Mississippi and Louisiana, about 50 students traveled by bus to work with local groups involved in restoring the ecosystem in the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Students planted trees, cleaned natural habitats and learned the impact of Katrina on the ecosystem of the region.
