This past summer, as most teenagers enjoyed a break from school, going to the beach, sleeping late, working local jobs – a group of Virginia Beach high schoolers went to Panama, helping at a health clinic and a rural school.
It’s part of a program aimed at supplying the students with a real-world education on real-world issues.
“The whole point of this is to get the students out into the real world,” said chaperone and Green Run Collegiate teacher Homer Babbit. “It’s a right for students to get a real-world education, so taking students from a fully developed country like the United States and taking them to a less developed country like Panama to get the real-world experience.”
The students, most of whom attend Green Run Collegiate, were immersed in a construction project for the school, building a girl’s bathroom.
They dug holes, mixed concrete and worked closely with men from the community.
Senior Elijah Harrison said he learned how to pour concrete.
“I got the wheelbarrow and we made the concrete and then went over to … (the) back of the school, where the room was being made, like the foundation, and put that concrete into the holes that we dug out.”
It was intense, hard work, the students agreed, but senior Aaron Miller said it was also enjoyable.
“The construction part was one of my favorite parts of it,” he said. “I think it’s awesome to see other men in different communities in Panama. They have the same work ethic and kind of drive to do their best and put forth their best work every day you go out to work.”
Students also helped with some basic health services, like measuring children and calculating their Body Mass Index (BMI). In order to do that, the students had to communicate in the native language (while Spanish is the official language of Panama, there are large communities that use indigenous languages).
“I felt a bit awkward being around them and telling them things, but I felt more confident as I worked with them,” said Bayside High School senior Alex Drum.
Babbit said he thinks students learned a lot about how lucky they are to have what they consider basics – like a working bathroom at school – and have the ability to go to school at all. Many students in Panama drop out of school when they hit adolescence, Babbit said.
“For most of my students, I think they are no longer taking those things for granted and actually are finding a lot of value in what we have here and have become more grateful for that,” Babbit said.
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