An Abundance of Summer Service

From Nicaragua to Virginia, from South Dakota to Georgia, Jesuit High School students spanned the continent this summer on service immersion trips to help those in need and fulfill the school’s mission to be “Men for Others.”

During the last week in July, 17 Jesuit students traveled to Matagalpa, Nicaragua to assist that community with its hardships and serve the people. For several years, Jesuit has undertaken a summer mission trip to Matagalpa, building relationships, repairing schools, assisting at the local hospital, and working to uplift the community in a vastly different part of the world.

Serving in Nicaragua this summer were: Andrew Escobio ’18, Sean Hughes ’18, Malik Johnson ’18, Joe McGonnigal ’18, Chad Mellon ’18, Tyler Peterson ’18, John Accardi ’19, Jason Accardi ’19, Christian Beatty ’19, James Bencivenga ’19, Colton Caruso ’19, Cameron Manck ’19, William McGill ’19, Nick Muir ’19, Karol Piedad ’19, Harrisen Pike ’19, and Joseph Ralston ’19, along with three chaperones: assistant principal Dr. Angelo Pastore, college counselor Peter Baxter, and Fr. Vincent Capuano, S.J.  

While those 17 students were in Nicaragua, another 12 Jesuit students, led by school president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J. drove to Fries, Va., in the heart of rural Appalachia, to serve that impoverished community. The students worked long days painting homes and landscaping, and, as with all of Jesuit’s mission trips, experienced a true brotherhood and the joy of service to others in need.

In recent years Jesuit students have engaged in at least three summertime mission trips (usually 7-10 days each), to Nicaragua, Appalachia, and South Dakota (click here for a story about the June 2017 South Dakota mission trip). This summer, a second trip to Appalachia – the Fries, Va. trip – was added. The first Appalachia trip came in early June, when a contingent of 30 students, led by assistant principal Fr. Patrick Hough, S.J., took the customary annual trek to Jasper, Ga. serving that community with dozens home, farm, and community projects, among many things.

30 Jesuit students and four chaperones embarked on an 8-day mission trip to Jasper, Ga. on June 6

In addition this summer, Fr. Capuano led a group of eight Jesuit football players on a four-day trip to Cuba in mid-July. Via these mission trips, as part of Jesuit’s community service program, the virtue of serving others who have real needs is integrated into the process of forming young men to do God’s will.

See below a photo slideshow from the mission trip to Appalachia (Jasper, Ga.) in June, and below that a photo slideshow from the mission trip to Nicaragua in July.