Washington High School hopes for Guatemala trip

WASHINGTON — Lydia Davis, a science teacher at Washington High School, pitched plans for a student service trip to Guatemala to the district’s school board at a regular meeting last week.

Davis said the district could coordinate a 10-day service and cultural trip with the Cedar Rapids Washington High School and a group called ImagininGuatemala over spring break in 2024, if officials signed off.

For the first four days of the trip, students work together to build a one-room house by hand.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s very doable work,” Davis said. “It’s a very humbling experience, it’s an emotional experience, and it’s a real perspective changer, that we come from having so much and they have nothing.”

After that, Davis said the rest of the trip would be spent immersed in the local culture. The group stays with host families, and has a selection of activities to choose from including a tour of a jade factory and museum, hiking up a volcano, boating across Lake Atitlán and observing the Semana Santa street procession.

Davis said the trip was safe for students, who would always travel in groups, never late at night. They would also eat no street food, drink only bottled water and wear closed-toed shoes everywhere.

“They are a third world country, but most of the scary statistics are part of the northern part of the country, and we’ll be in the south,” she said. “Someone from ImagininGuatemala accompanies the group wherever they go, and they do speak decent English.”

With all expenses accounted for, Davis said the trip would cost each students around $3,159, based on numbers from this year’s trip by the Cedar Rapids school. She said some funding help may be available.

“I’m really hoping there would be some businesses that would be willing to maybe put forth some money, and we could offer some scholarships if the financial side is what’s preventing kids from going,” she said. “A lot of the families that had kids go in the past saw what an impact that had, and they actually put forth money for future kids to go.”

Davis said any students would be welcome, regardless of their language proficiency, although the trip is not wheelchair-accessible. The group size can range from 10-30 participants from both schools combined.

The school board plans to discuss approval for the trip at its regular meeting in February. Some officials have already voiced enthusiasm about the proposal.

“I think it’s a great trip,” Superintendent Willie Stone said. “It’s service-oriented, whereas some of our trips in the past … they get to see the culture and they get to see the community, which is a great experience, but to me this is honestly a (different element.)”

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