`Grueling` trip for team from Hawken builds hope

Shorts, sandals and sunscreen-the typical gear of summer. But 18 Hawken Upper School students, faculty/staff, alumni and parents this summer got a few more markedly different accoutrements... shovels, cement and brick. For two weeks in July, the group helped in a school building project in the small Nicaraguan town of El Jobo near Cuidad Dario. They were there in conjunction with Seeds of Learning (SOL), a non-profit organization, founded by Hawken graduate Todd Evans +óGé¼-£50, which seeks educational reform in rural Latin America. According to its Web site, "Each year, Seeds of Learning, sends 10 to 12 work groups of volunteers to Central America...While there, volunteers partner with communities, form relationships, build bridges and explore each others` cultures while erecting or improving a school building." This is the second time that a team from Hawken has traveled to Nicaragua. Trip leader Bob Wiemer said that although the work is grueling, both physically and emotionally, it is, nonetheless, rewarding. "Where we go, the need [for education] is coupled with a hunger and passion to learn. The stories of how students struggle to get the money to get the clothing [the schools require students to wear uniforms and shoes]...the struggle to get to schools...distances...family obligations. It`s amazing and heartbreaking," he said. When he and former Head of School Jim Berkman traveled to Nicaragua five years ago to conduct a SOL research visit, what they saw inspired them to assemble the School`s first group to make the trip last year. Claire Cooley `06 was a member of Hawken`s inaugural SOL class. She described the "miserable adventure of making mortar" as "torture," but soon grew to relish it. Mixing mezcla (as it is called in Nicaragua), she commented, provided more of a bonding experience than the American way of doing it: pushing a button on a cement truck and watching the mixer roll. "When I returned from my trip to Nicaragua, I predictably felt more grateful for my life in the United States and for my education, but I also found I missed the close-knit community and simplicity of Nicaraguan culture," she said. Cooley`s experience wasn`t all too different from this year`s batch of SOL participants`. For but 14 days, the group was dealt a dose of concentrated enlightenment-reconciling language barriers, appreciating cultural differences, and learning both world politics and environmental issues. Overwhelming? Could be, but as Weimer acknowledged, "They grow exponentially..." For more information about Seeds of Learning, click here.