“When you travel, it’s like you’re on the outside looking in. I really liked this trip. I like the view better from the inside looking out.”
FORCES AT WORK MR. SANTOSA, Instructional Technology
But it wasn’t just the newfound connec- tions that enriched the experience. Each day as classmates, the group became tighter. When one guy needed a break, another stepped in for him. When someone skinned a knee or needed a hand with something, another boy was there to lighten the load. Boys who, over the course of time at Cathedral School, may have never been on the same team or travelled in the same circles were developing bonds with each other, discovering qualities they didn’t know about the others, and building friend- ships they might have otherwise missed. During times of reflection, so many of the group expressed how glad they were for the opportunity to connect with their classmates before graduation and how nice it was to see them in a new place, a new context, and a new light.
That’s the thing about true service: we often go in a little smug, arrogant, and self-righteous like we’re going to go help someone else, but we often forget how we are actually the ones who get the most out of the experience in the form of personal growth and connec- tions—how much we get back from those we think we’re helping. The work, though important in and of itself, becomes a conduit to a much richer experience. Well, that’s what happened for a group of our students this past April. They went to help others but wound up helping themselves and are now more apt to help others again. It’s like a cycle that will continue. One boy summed it up this way, “When you travel, it’s like you’re on the outside looking in. I really liked this trip. I like the view better from the inside looking out.” Didn’t someone once say that it is “in giving that we receive” or something like that?
While the Upper School boys were in Puerto Rico doing service work, third-grade students at Cathedral learned about relief efforts after Hurricane Maria through their Sci-Tech unit with Mr. Rankin and myself. The boys designed and tested zip lines used to transport supplies across a damaged bridge. In the process, they were able to identify the forces at work and how an object moves when the ends of the rope are at different heights.
24 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
FALL 2019 • RED & GOLD | 25
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