Kate Harley - Alternative Spring Break

Over spring break, I was lucky enough to be on the Penn State Berks Alternative Spring Break Team on a service trip to Belize. What an amazing experience it was!  We stayed in a small town called Punta Gorda in the southern part of Belize, about 5 hours south of Belize City.  

While in Punta Gorda we worked with the local St. Benedict RC School. We helped work on their library, cleaning the building, and giving it a fresh coat of paint. We also created library cards for thousands of books that were donated for the school. We also put up ceilings in the principals office and their soon-to-come computer lab. Not only were we helping but I learned how to dry wall, which is something I never expected to learn in my life.   

Being at the school every day was so much fun. When the children had recess or any break in the day, they would run right to us. We got to read stories to them, play soccer, and just spend time with them. During our trip, we stayed with host families and got to eat the traditional cuisine. My all-time favorite of the week was my house mom’s homemade pico de gallo.  

Belize is such an amazing country. Everyone is so friendly there. You say “hello” to every person you walk past. The trip wasn’t all work; we had free time where we got to visit the Mayan Ruins. They were simply breathtaking. On our last day of the trip, we had a picnic at the waterfalls and also got to learn how chocolate was made.  I could not think of a better way to spend my spring break.  

I am extremely thankful to Andrea Kolb, our adviser, for all the hard work and time that she puts into this program. I highly recommend this program to every student at Penn State Berks. Andrea wasn’t the only faculty member on the trip. We were also joined by our chancellor, Dr. Hillkirk, and his wife, and they worked on the site with us every day. It was great to see the passion for service that every member of the Alternative Spring Break team had. 

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Gandhi