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Schools

Students Find Meaning on Spring Break

50 Deerfield High School students build homes in Costa Rica.

When 50 students went to Costa Rica for Spring Break to build two houses with money they raised, there was little question it would be a life changing experience.

The only question remaining unanswered is whether the lives of the students or families who moved into the new homes had the more altered existence.

“We broke the chain of poverty,” said of the two families who got the new homes replacing their shacks. “Now the chain is broken the children can hope to do better.”

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Not only did the group create opportunity for future generations of Costa Ricans, they did something for themselves as well.

“It was exceptional how it made me feel to help a family,” Zack Beyer said. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

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The students going on the journey with teacher Jeff Hoyer expected to make a difference for others but were not prepared for how it would affect them. One thing they learned was how people with much less than a North Shore family can live a happy life.

“We could see how much appreciation they have,” Maria Ullmann said of the people she met. “You see how little they have and how happy they can be. Around here people have so much and you see how unhappy they can be.”

Students Raised the Money To Go

Hoyer, who draws many of the students from his advanced placement environmental science class and has been leading this trip for seven years, introduced the students to diversity when they began raising the $18,000 necessary for the effort.

The main fundraising focus is on a rummage sale during Veterans’ Day weekend where Hoyer combines exposure to people from all walks of life and an environmental purpose. The students gained that lesson outside the classroom.

“The rummage sale helps break the poverty cycle too,” said. “We sold things people really need at a bargain price.”

“It’s kept out of a landfill,” Hoyer added about the unneeded goods collected from the community. “We donated what we didn’t sell to charity.”

The material for the two homes built costs $13,000 and the rest of the money pays for the trip. The recipients of the homes already own the land but live in what the students and Hoyer describe as shacks.

Of the six students who took the time to talk to Patch about their experience—Moeckler, Ullmann, Villano, Rebecca Schraiber, Beyer and Ben Gartner—all have part time jobs. None were quite prepared for the work awaiting them in Costa Rica.

“I was handed six-inch nails and told to hammer them into wood,” Villano, who works part time as a receptionist, said. “By the time we were done we knew what to do.”

Special Moment Comes at the Finish

Another special moment came when the house was complete, furnished with basic furniture purchased from the money raised for the homes and the students moved the family’s possessions into the new structure.

“We stood in a circle and gave them the keys,” Gartner said. “They invited us in. We were their first guests.”

For Schraiber the moment helped her realize how she had touched the lives of others. “We can make a difference,” she said. “I will be less selfish because I got to experience life outside the bubble we live in.”

Gartner, who will enroll in the ROTC program at Western Illinois University in the fall, sees a relationship between the military life before him and the work he did in Costa Rica.

“It’s not just about carrying a gun and fighting for your country,” Gartner said. “It’s about making sure the people over there safe.” He wants to make the lives of all people he touches better.

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