CATHEDRAL AND PUERTO RICO 2018: WORDS INTO ACTION BY CHRIS CORRIGAN, Seventh- and Eighth-Grade English
On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico. Propelled by 155 mph sustained winds, the Category 4 storm hit the south-east corner of the island and cut a diagonal swath across the island, obliterating infrastructure, causing major flooding and leaving nearly 3.5 million U.S. citizens without power. All this came just weeks after Irma, the most powerful storm ever reported in the Atlantic Ocean, grazed the U.S. territory. To this day, power is still not fully restored, and island-wide blackouts are not uncommon. When faced with the reality of a disaster of such magnitude, it’s easy to feel powerless and removed. It’s a story on the news. Turn the page. Change the channel. It’s hard to imagine the situation there, let alone feel as if you can do something about it. Even so, this past April, 25 eighth graders—led by four of their teachers—gave up their spring break and traveled to Puerto Rico. They spent what would have been their vacation doing construction projects, clearing roads in the rainforest, digging irrigation ditches, and connecting with the people directly impacted by the disaster. “As part of Outdoor Education programming, we’re told not even to leave footprints. I don’t know if that applies here. I feel like I left a big footprint. I mean we poured Victor’s floor. I was a part of that. I worked beside him. When he walks on that floor, it’s like he and I will always be connected. That’s a good footprint to leave.” On the boys’ first day in Puerto Rico, they took a walking tour of San Juan, and then got to work. The majority of the time they spent was in Villa Del Rio, an impoverished community in the Vega Alta municipality, about a 45-minute drive west of San Juan. Over the course of three full days of work, the Hawks mixed and poured the concrete foundation for one house. The owners, Ana and her husband Brian, are the parents of two toddlers. They worked side-by-side with the boys, hauling concrete and pouring it into the frames for the new structure.
“To develop social responsibility through exemplary programs of outreach and service.” –CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS MISSION
FALL 2018 • RED & GOLD | 29
28 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator