The first week back at Stonehill after Spring Break is always the hardest; the chilly weather, the stress of schoolwork and the fact that you’re not still sitting on a sunny beach in Punta Cana sipping on a Corona can put a damper on your studies. When the “#tbt to Spring Break” pictures start to overwhelm your Instagram feed you may notice that not everyone spent their week off drinking on a beach. A growing number of your classmates traveled all across the country and internationally (think: the OTHER side of the Dominican Republic) on service trips. The H.O.P.E. program at Stonehill is one of the colleges most recognized organizations and each year hundreds of students spend a week in an unfamiliar location, sometimes not knowing anyone on their trip with them, and come back feeling like they just left a home they never knew they belonged to. There is so much to be said about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, and that is exactly what the H.O.P.E. program encourages. The warmth and friendliness that you encounter from the community you serve in will change the way you interact with even your closest friends at school for the better.
Junior Sara Morris, a three time H.O.P.E. trip veteran, says that her “favorite part about each trip is the shock factor… every single time there is one experience where [her] feet are knocked out from under [her], and [she] is forced to realize something about [her]self, the world, or group members” There is much to be said about leaving the ‘Stonehill Bubble’ we all live in. There is only so much we can see in pictures, and more times than not it’s necessary to experience something that makes you think twice about how extremely privileged we are to attend Stonehill. The social justice issues that each H.O.P.E. trip addresses varies by site location, for example; education in the Bronx, women’s rights in India, and migrant worker rights in Coachella. These issues are the driving force behind the service that is done at the location.
The H.O.P.E. program has such a presence on campus that current sophomore Colleen MacDonald heard about it on her first ever visit to Stonehill. This year Colleen decided to take full advantage of the program and says that her experience in the Bronx has really opened her eyes to the injustices that children face all over the world. Colleen was overwhelmed at the academic disadvantages she saw in the Bronx school system, even at the elementary level. After meeting a young girl struggling to pass the fourth grade, but overflowing with potential, Colleen knew that she was sent there for a reason. This kind of eye-opening experience “broke [her] heart enough to light a fire within [her] soul,” and that is why spring break really matters.