For my signature project I traveled to Puerto Rico with other Ohio State students through Buck-i-SERV in May 2023. We were connected to local communities through the organization Community Collaborations International, which planned our week of service in places around the island such as San Juan, Luquillo, Carolina, El Yunque National Forest, and Juncos. We participated in a variety of service types such as home construction, wilderness preservation, wildlife restoration, and volunteering with youth.

As Puerto Rico is unlike any other place I’ve ever visited, perhaps the most notable change that took place over this trip was my view of the world. In the many places that we traveled to around the island I was able to experience firsthand what life was like in a U.S territory (and one with a likelihood of becoming a state at some point in the future). I discovered that although there are built-up areas of Puerto Rico that are highly developed, many Puerto Ricans face issues with safety and crime, recovering from natural disasters, and even day to day challenges with car travel and lack of public transportation, and Puerto Rico faces infrastructure challenges.

I also learned many new things about myself and the group of Buck-I-SERV volunteers I was on service with. First, I found that service can bring together very diverse groups of people like few other activities can. Coming together to be a part of a mission bigger than any one of us gave us all purpose that motivated us to put in our full effort throughout the entire week. I also gained a personal understanding that I most enjoy the types of service where I could directly see the difference I was making.

My understanding of life in Puerto Rico (and perhaps other U.S territories) came mostly from conversations and interactions with locals who have spent time living in Puerto Rico for at least the last few years. On Monday and Tuesday of my trip, I worked on house reconstruction efforts from hurricane Maria together with the organization SBP. Workers from SBP often had lived in Puerto Rico for a little while and helped me gain insight into the lives of the homeowners we were serving. One fact they told me that I remember well is that many homes, such as the one we worked at on Monday, had barred windows to stop crime gangs from causing damage to the home by throwing large objects through these windows.

I also learned a lot from Leo, the main organizer for our group’s week of service, who knew lots about Puerto Rico and even had political ambitions to make a difference in Puerto Rico’s challenges. On one bus ride during the week Leo pointed out the absurd amount of traffic on the roadways and how many cars there are across the island. Leo said this was due to no one taking into account incorporating other methods of transportation, including public services.

The way I bonded with my fellow Ohio State students on this trip, over the course of only a single week, is what taught me about the unique nature of service. Even though there were 19 participants on this trip, we each got to spend time getting to know one another and forming new friendships. I saw this when, after arriving back to campus and it being time to say our goodbyes, many people expressed their sadness at having to leave the group to travel back home. I felt this sadness as well, and still think it’s truly amazing considering I knew nobody in the group going in. Serving others in Puerto Rico helped us grow together because we spent almost all day with one another, were excited to be helping others, and got to form new connections with people outside the school group, such as the service leaders throughout the week or children at the Boys and Girls Club. 

The last thing I learned about myself was how much more I enjoyed the days of service where I knew without a doubt that I was making a difference. One day I spent painting a section of a home that I felt, after devoting hours of work, didn’t ultimately look that good. But on the very next day, after by chance being assigned a painting job yet again, I enjoyed my work thoroughly because this time it was an assignment I felt I could competently do and make it look good. I also felt the duration of service factored in here, as I got better satisfaction from spending all day at one service site as opposed to only 1-2 hours like we did at a tree nursery in San Juan on Thursday. We were also going to spend only one hour at a Boys and Girls Club that day, but after deciding to stay an extra hour it became immediately clear how helpful it was to have that extra time to bond with the kids there.

Never having been outside the 50 states I now have a better understanding of problems faced by people in other areas of the world. This makes me more informed on global issues and a better global citizen. Traveling to Puerto Rico also gave me experience in appreciating new cultures as I talked with local Puerto Ricans, explored several major cities on the island, tried new foods, and read and spoke Spanish throughout the trip.

The discoveries I made about myself and my enjoyment of service gives me ideas for how to incorporate serving others into my professional life because, although I have not hardly begun to narrow down career paths for myself out of college, I now know I would expect to find a closer, more energized group of coworkers at an organization that does work that gives back to the community or serves others in some way. I am now confident that this work would also keep me more motivated because of the effects I noticed on my work ethic when I knew what kind of a difference I was making for other people.

On May 6 of 2023, my Buck-I-SERV trip and I traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to partake in a service learning trip focused on environmental conservation and natural disaster relief. While there, we did a wide variety of activities including a camp improvement project where we built bunk beds and painted, a two-day relief project doing construction on homes destroyed by hurricanes, rainforest trail maintenance, a tree maintenance project, and lastly visiting a boys and girls club to help the children. We also went on a catamaran and coral reef exploration trip on our final day before returning home on May 13. On this trip, I had the role of a trip leader, which entailed working closely with our two trip advisors and one additional trip leader to ensure everything ran smoothly.

Through the completion of my STEP signature project, I was able to gain a newfound appreciation and understanding of a culture that is different than my own. While in Puerto Rico, my group and I were given the opportunity to submerge ourselves in the culture by working directly with members of the community to provide disaster relief while gaining insight into the difficulties the community continues to face following the effects of many natural disasters. This service project transformed my worldview by helping me understand the importance of volunteer work as well as the huge impact it can have on a community both at a large scale and personal level.

At each site my group went to, we were able to speak to the coordinators of each project who enlightened us on the impact the work we were completing would have on the members of the community. While doing construction at one of the housing sites we were assigned to, the husband and wife who lived in the house and had previously been forced to evacuate came to visit us and express their gratitude for the work we were doing. This was a very heartwarming encounter that helped me to see first-hand the impact we were having on people’s lives. I will never forget the kindness this couple had toward me and my fellow volunteers and it will inspire me to find more ways to impact my own community now that I have returned home.

The next day, my group went to another construction site on the other side of the city to do more painting and work around the house. While working outside with two of my fellow volunteers, an elderly lady who lived next door came outside to speak to us and ask us how the house owner was doing who had been forced to evacuate just as the couple at the previous site had to do. Although she spoke close to no English, the other two volunteers and I worked together to communicate with her about what we were doing and talk about Buck-I-SERV. We were only able to understand bits and pieces of what she told us, but she made her appreciation for our work very apparent and stayed outside to talk with us while we worked. Meeting people on our trip was my biggest takeaway and something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

Another key interaction I had while on this trip occurred during the rainforest trail maintenance activity we did. This day we worked with three of the rainforest employees, all named Luis, who educated us on the history of the trail we were repairing as well as the landslides that occur in Puerto Rico which cause trails such as the one we repaired to collapse. Through the kindness and education the Luis’ provided my group during this project, I was able to gain a deeper appreciation for those who work in parks and forests across the world as I had not previously understood the extent of the work they were completing to allow for long-term conservation.

This Buck-I-SERV trip had a significant impact on my life by providing me with the invaluable experience to work directly with members of another community that I would not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet. This development will affect my personal life by inspiring me to travel to more places to complete service work alongside those who are not as fortunate. This trip was the first service project I have been on and as a result, I would like to continue to provide help around my community where it is needed.

This development will also affect my professional goals as a future nurse. I feel inspired to look for community-based opportunities to help those who do not have access to healthcare in the same way as most do. Examples include volunteering at local health clinics around Columbus as well as food banks to give free health advice to those who are in need.

Starting on May 6th, I traveled with a group of 18 other individuals on a Buck-I-SERV trip to Puerto Rico. I acted a a trip leader with one other person. The trip was focused on environmental conservation and natural disaster relief. The service projects we participated in were doing camp maintenance, helping to fix up houses that were destroyed in 2017 by Hurricane Maria, working on rainforest train maintenance, assisting at a plant nursery, and working with children at the local boys and girls club.

Through the experiences I had on this trip, I discovered a passion for traveling while also positively impacting the community that I visit. This trip was extremely rewarding and not only did I gain a better understanding of a new culture and environment, I also had the opportunity to work with other amazing student from OSU who share similar passions. The most transformational aspect of this trip was the exposer to a community that is less fortunate than the one that I grew up in. Before this trip, I was not aware of the lasting effects of natural disasters in Puerto Rico, as well as the negative affects of the current state of their economy. This trip was enlightening and rewarding in many aspects and I feel that this experience had made me want to become more community oriented and has also inspired me to look for ways I can positively impact those in my own community who may need it. My group and I were also able to immerse ourselves in the culture and were surrounded by a Spanish speaking community which was an experience I had not had before.

Throughout the week of our trip I became close with all of the other participants on the trip. This was extremely meaningful to me and made the trip so enjoyable. Not only did I gain a relationship with my fellow trip members, but throughout the week I was able to connect with the community partners at the service sights and they shared insight on their views of their own community. They shared facts about Puerto Rico’s history and current events which I was not aware of before the start of the trip. Each community member we worked with had a strong passion for working in their community and I found their motivation and goals inspiring. Many of the areas we worked in were more small rural community towns in which the members all shared a personal connection to their community. This was cool to see as in Columbus I feel that many people have more of a personal responsibility to their work and home life than they do to helping their community.

Being surrounded by such passionate community members throughout the week is the main factor that lead to my transformational experience. Although it may be on a small scale, every one that we worked with was positively impacting the people and the area around them which inspired me to want to try to continue to have a positive impact in my community at home. Additionally, one of the CCI partners who was our trip leader throughout the week positively impacted me. Not only did he work with CCI, he also has his own nonprofit which is designed to help bring color and culture to communities in Puerto Rico by creating murals around the city. He was a true leader in his community and had amazing connections all throughout Puerto Rico.

One activity we did throughout the week that left the biggest impact on me was the day we spent at the boys and girls camp. Many of the students there could not speak very good English, if any at all. Despite the language barrier, we were able to spend half the day playing games and communicating with the kids. This was the first day that our service project’s primary interaction was not with the community partners, or people who spoke fluent english, but was instead was with kids from the communities that we had been volunteering with all week. That day did not only brighten the kids day, but also all of us volunteers. It was such a unique experience to be surrounded by many kids from all different schools and different home lives. All of the kids had such positive attitudes and showed no fear interacting with the volunteers who are from an entirely different culture and community than them. This was transformational in its self as it has inspired me to want to gain more experience immersing myself and interacting with community members that are from an entirely different culture than mine.

This trip was such a valuable experience to me and I would love the chance to go on a trip like this again in the future. This was my first time traveling without having the primary goal of vacationing or exploring the more touristy parts of the community. Before this trip, I had never been on a service trip before, nor had I ever worked directly with people in the place that I was visiting. I gained a new appreciation for all the hard work that everyone did on the trip as well as how passionate everyone was about their work. I gained knowledge about the history and current event of Puerto Rico on this trip, including information about all of the community partners we worked with, the environment, and information on their views of the American lifestyle and how it is different than their own.

This trip has left a lasting impact on me with effects in my personal, future, and professional plans. Personally, I hope to get the chance to have more experiences like this throughout my time in college, and I hope to continue my new found passion into my professional life. My current professional tract in health care and experiences with different communities is extremely important as diversity and inclusion is a major part of the health care field. Additionally, I hope to find pre professional working experience in new communities, like Puerto Rico, in the future to continue to gain knowledge and experience working in communities with different cultures.

For my STEP Signature Project, I participated in an alternative break trip with BUCK-I-SERV to help volunteer in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We worked with the organization Community Collaborations to mainly help with disaster relief and environmental conservation.

I think this trip was very important and I am very glad that I went on this service-learning trip. I taught me more about myself, for example, I learned how much I love learning a new language as it was very fun trying to practice and learn Spanish with the local people. I learned that I really enjoy giving back with others because it can be fun, and it is very fulfilling. Being in a new environment also taught me a lot more about diversity, and the importance of education. It was nice to be in a different setting than I’m used to because I think it helped me broaden my world view and helped me become more understanding of people. It led me try a lot of new things.

Another major thing that changed with my views was that I realized I knew a lot less about the world than I thought. I barely knew anything about Puerto Rico and its history before I got there. I did not know why they were so impoverished, or even how they had become a colony of the United States of America. There are a lot of issues and history there that a lot of people, me included, did not know about. Even some native people in Puerto Rico don’t even know their own history because of how poor the education system is there. With all of this I was able to realize how big the world is and how little I know about it.

There were a lot of things throughout this trip that helped me realize those things. By working alongside local people every day, I was able to practice my Spanish a lot. They seemed happy that I was making an effort to learn their language and they were happy to teach me. This, and all the food I tried also helped me realize how much pride people have in their culture and how much they enjoy sharing that. I also found out how fulfilling and fun service can be. At the beginning of the week, we worked at these two sites where we were helping paint and rebuild homes for people. Working at these sites was sometimes a lot of work but at the end of the day no matter how hard the work was we were always happy, and we enjoyed talking about the work we just did. I think this helped me realize the value in service and how much I enjoy it.

Working at these sites with the local people definitely helped broaden my world view. Especially when we worked with the boys and girls club. We got to work with a lot of children at this club and we got to see a bit what everyday life was like for them, what they liked to do, and how they talked to each other. I also learned that you could learn a lot about a culture through food. Most of the time we ate what the organization had prepared for us, and it was fun getting to try foods I had never tried before and learning about where they came from. It’s a lot different from here.

We spent many hours working with the local people, so it allowed for us to have a lot of conversation, and this is where I learned a lot about Puerto Rico and its history. I also learned that I didn’t know a lot of things. One of the days we worked on preserving a hiking trail and I got to ask one of the leaders a lot of questions about Puerto Rico’s history and culture. I never knew they were first conquered by Spain before they were colonized by us, I did not know that their education was so poor, and I didn’t know that people from Puerto Rico cannot vote for our president and other things. A lot of these things I think are very important, and they were things that I never knew, and this helped me realize how much of the world I don’t know about and how only a very general view of the world is taught in school. By going to these places and making an effort to be educated you can learn so much more.

All of these transformations and things I’ve learned on this trip are very important to me and my life. Firstly, I am very glad that I was able to find another interest in learning a new language. I hope that I can implement that in my life and one day become bilingual. Mainly, these things I’ve learned have helped transform my life in a positive way. It has helped me realign my values. I now know how much value there is in volunteering and helping people. It is very fulfilling and volunteering is something that I plan on doing for the rest of my life and this trip helped me realize that even more. Another huge thing is this trip helped me realize that I should approach the world and people with an open heart. That I should be more open-minded of people and attempt to understand where they come from. By approaching situations with unbiases and with the motive of becoming more educated you can learn a lot more about other people and yourself.

My STEP signature project consisted of a week helping to take care of and rehabilitate horses that were up for adoption at Mountain Valley Horse Rescue. Every day we would get to the ranch and clean all of the horses’ pens, then we would take a lunch break and continue to various tasks for the rest of the day. Our big project during the week was helping the ranch to clear out a barn that had been filled with odds and ends and get it prepared for horses to be able to occupy and used.

This project changed my outlook on the world in a couple different ways. First, being grateful and surrounding myself with positive people. My group actually talked about this together and I realized that when I started this trip, I did not know if I would stay somewhere with heat, I did not know if we would have running water or cooking utensils, and we did not know if the ranch we were going to would be run down or not. However, because I had no expectations for these things, I had a greater appreciation for the things we did have. It made my outlook on what I had greater, and it humbled me to realize that I was grateful for a hot shower, when I had never thought much about it before.

Another perspective that changed for me was work. I am not sure at what point, but sometime during the week I realized how impactful and fulfilling the work I was doing was. I was not working for reward, as it was obvious volunteer work, but rather I was working with a purpose. I realized the difference I was making to both the horses and the ranch owners lives and that in itself was something I had yet to experience. Feeling truly proud of the work I had done and knowing it had meaning opened my eyes to both reflect on my past and think about how I want it to shape my future.

The group of people on this trip helped me to realize these things. It was a group of positive, like-minded individuals that I collaborated well with. As mentioned earlier, we had a conversation surrounding the topic of gratefulness and without the group I had, I am not positive I would have had that realization myself. I enjoyed talking with them about this and everyone agreed and contributed.

The group’s positivity is also something that led to the change I talked about earlier. My group in particular was a lot more positive than some other groups of people I know. It seemed like when things went wrong or plans did not go through, everyone stepped up, not out. There was no complaining from anyone, and it was rewarding to hear everyone’s stories and to learn things in a setting that was unique to us. It allowed me to realize how similar we all were and how small the world can be.

The ranch owner was another person that helped to shape my experience about work. She was the kindest person, and it was obvious that she only wanted the best for these horses. Since most of the ranch was built on volunteers, she had said they struggled to maintain a consistent flow of people since covid hit. She seemed to be so thankful for what we’re doing and we were thankful for what she was doing for the animals. Working at the ranch was a mutual gratification that fulfilled me more than I had ever been doing something like that.

I hope to remember everything I did on the trip and how it made me feel in the future. Being disconnected from my phone and present with the people in my life was a pause in my life I did not know I needed. This trip helped me to realize how much I value meeting people in a setting that wasn’t artificial or surface level. I left feeling like I had known those people for years and that is something I hope to use in my future. I hope to meet people and be able to connect with them in a way similar to this trip, whether that is personal or professional.

Something else that will remain a valuable lesson for me is the importance of saying yes. I took this trip alone. I did not even know someone else that had taken a Buck-I-Serv trip, but I did it anyways because I thought it might be good for me. It turned out it certainly was, and the memories I made taught me that so much opportunity awaits if we just say yes. I want to take on everything I see with an open mind and challenge myself to say “yes” to more things, as they might just lead to amazing outcomes.

My STEP Signature Project was to travel with BUCK-I-Serv and partner with the Constru Casa organization in Antigua, Guatemala. My group worked alongside the masons and homeowners to dig foundations, carry materials, mix concrete, and lay concrete blocks to help build a home for a local family.

During my project, my perspective about the culture and the people changed immensely. Prior to coming to Guatemala, I was told that this is a very unsafe country with lots of crime and incidents. However, after staying here for a week, I realized that the media focuses primarily on the negative aspects of the country and does not highlight the beautiful cultural aspects and of the people. This trip also opened my eyes to the challenges that people face in developing countries. I knew that many people did not have access to the basic necessities such as food, water, shelter, but it was not until living here for a week that I realized the true impact of this problem. Additionally, while working at the construction site, I learned to appreciate the values of hard work and accept challenges.

Upon learning about the dangerous of Guatemala, I was shocked to see how friendly everyone is towards each other. After a long day of work at the construction site, Isabella the woman whose home we are building surprised us with mangoes and bags of water. Despite very little that she had, she still was willing to buy an expensive gift for all to us to show her love and appreciation. This shows that although these people do not have much to give, they still are going out of their way to make us feel valued for our help.

Also, I was surprised to find so many little children wandering the streets of Antigua at nighttime without supervision. One night, we all sat in a circle in front of a fountain to reflect on the day when a little girl came by to sell us necklaces and bracelets. She introduced herself and sat down in my friend’s lap, started braiding her hair, and having long conversations with us. This shows that despite how “dangerous” the country is, the little girl felt safe enough to come up to a group of tourists at night and talk to us for a while without her parents.

My friend Leeann with the little girl. 

Although I knew that Guatemala is a developing country, I was not truly aware of what it meant to not have access to certain necessities. As we were driving, we passed through a village where the people were washing their clothes in a communal well and filling up buckets of water from a fountain to drink. After seeing this, I realized how grateful I am to grow up with full access to water and that I should not complain about the few hardships that I come across.

Finally, while working at the construction for a week, we met three amazing guys who would begin working at 5 AM and would not leave until 8 PM. They worked tirelessly in the heat with only one lunch break and few water breaks. Although, we did not have the proper construction equipment, we primarily used buckets, wheelbarrows, and shovels to dig the foundation and mix cement for the home. Often times, the workers noticed part of the structure falling over and added scrap wires to hold it up, or they would place wooden boards for us to use as planks to carry the wheelbarrows and buckets across the worksite. This whole process showed that despite the many problems including the lack of equipment, materials, and manpower, the workers quickly found innovative solutions using the limited resources available to them.

Our last day at the construction site with the three masons.

This project was significant in my journey as a pre health student as I worked with underserved populations to understand what needs they have beside medical. Changing my preconceived ideas about the safety of the country is a valuable transformation to my life because I learned to not judge anybody or anything especially based on its perception in the media. There is bound to be crime in any big cities, but by being aware of your surroundings and take precautions when walking at night, I realized that Guatemala is just another scenic country with beautiful people.

  The group’s last day with our bus driver Felipe. 

Beautiful view on top of Volcán de Pacaya.

Secondly, seeing the effects poverty throughout certain parts of the country showed how fortunate I am to have access to food, water, clothes, and shelter. This transformed my values and made me more appreciative and grateful of everything that I have.  I also learned that not everyone is as lucky as I am, and I should always do my best to be empathetic of other people’s situations and try to help if I can. Lastly, working alongside the three local masons, I felt their dedication, strength, and commitment towards the project. Despite the many challenges they faced, they still accomplish their goals with a positive attitude and a smile on their faces. This taught me to openly accept challenges and understand the significance of hard work and integrity.