Student Service Project Reports, AMH 2020 Summer 2016
The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
This Summer I had the distinct privilege of partnering with the Dance Theatre of Florida in an effort to put on a basics camp for Grand Cay All Age School in the Bahamas.
A group of dancers who have frequented Rosie’s Place the past few years built a friendly report with the towns people and their children. The School principle along with one the team moms proposed the idea to our county. Both sides saw this a great opportunity as the Government issued a $2,000 to make the mission possible. The town received food, kitchen appliances and participants received t-shirts, shoes, and learned ballet as a result.
The trip began at Jupiter, FL, inlet. All the supplies called for 4 boats and we managed to cross in 5hrs. Only one of the boats experienced problems and it happened to be the biggest one. Not one of the boats was longer than 28ft. When we arrived, we had a couple days to get situated and experience the scenery.
The weather was actually perfect until we had to depart 7 days later. The whole trip ended up lasting 10 days but nobody complained. We caught our fair share of Hog fish, Mutton, Grouper, and Reef sharks. Everyone wanted to come out to help when it came time to set up the school. One the items that weighed down the 28ft Stamos was 20 feet of wood flooring. The population varies from day to day but there is never more than 60 inhabitants. Many of the people in the islands like to travel around because they have family all over. Every Wednesday a shuttle boat makes it run to Freeport, Bahamas. And Sundays are quiet because people take their religion very serious. Overall, the trip was a huge success.
The Principal enjoyed the performance so much he asked we do it two nights in a row. After the second he requested we do it over again next year. The kids had a great time and you could see many of them gained a huge interest. When it was time to go we only made it 9 miles off shore because waves were starting to fill our boats. 3 days later we made it back all 72 miles and in record time. I can proudly say the memories and experiences gained were some the best I ever had.
