Student Takeover!: Guest Post By Participant Lucy Wallis

My name is Lucy Wallis! This fall, I will be a Junior at Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This morning marked the halfway point of our Service and Leadership program.

It started like all of our normal weekdays! I woke up around 7, showered and got ready. I knocked on Emma's door, my roommate, to she if she was ready to go eat breakfast. At breakfast we made small talk with our host mom, Mary, and figured out the plan for today. In the mornings we often have fresh cut mango and fresh orange juice with pancakes, toast or cereal. Emma and I Uber every morning to class, sometimes with other students that live close by!

We had our 2 hour Spanish class helping us review conjugations and learn new things like how to ask and give directions. Today we headed straight to Hogar de Angeles— the program we are volunteering for— after class. We had a short social policy seminar lead by one of our AMAZING Program Leaders, Natalia! We discussed the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and how Non-profits play into the efforts to accomplish these goals. We took a quick lunch break and split up into our work groups. We have been helping the program prepare and organize to move to a new building at the end of this month. They will shortly have a great new facility fulfilling all their needs and more! Today I worked in the clothing room, sorting and bagging up clothes to be transferred to the new location. Other kids were cleaning, preparing food or helping sort papers at the reception area. Through this work I have learned a number of skills like organization, adaptability, teamwork, productive work ethic and many others.

After about three hours at Hogar de Angeles we taxied to an Anthropology Museum. We were so grateful for the air conditioning and learned even more about the Mayan culture through the interactive aspects and cool videos.

With a little time left in our day many students were craving some ice cream to beat the heat! To close out our day we found a cute little shop close by and enjoyed many different fruity flavors of sorbet.

All the students headed home and spent the rest of the night sharing a meal, spending time with their host families and getting ready for all the activities tomorrow will bring!

Lucy Wallis

Merida, Mexico Session 1 Service and Leadership: Advancing Children’s Health Care