The smell of paint. Sweaty hands mixing wet cement. Giving a lesson to young children. When Megan Gilman was a high school student, she did not expect to do any of these during her summer vacation, but years later, these are commonplace in her work with the School the World Service Program (SWSP).

SWSP was founded in 2009 by Kate Curran, with a mission to give better education to children and adults in poverty. During winter, spring and summer breaks, students travel to Honduras, Guatemala or Panama to build a primary school building. They fundraise before the trip, with profits going towards the school’s construction, books and other materials.

Gilman works as a Service Learning and Global Citizenship Coordinator for SWSP. She said she hoped for the program to leave students feeling empowered and educated about the world.

Students not only work in construction but also interact with the community they work in and give lessons to the children there. Junior Sophia Heinrich, who went on the trip last year, said the people she met left a great impression on her.

“The adults and the kids in the community were some of the kindest, hardworking, inspiring and most grateful people I have ever met,” Heinrich said. “I was able to connect with them without even speaking Spanish at all. They just left the biggest impact on me and [changed] how I view what’s really valuable in life.”

Before leaving for the trip, students take lessons on the region’s history and culture. Curran wants to show students how much of a difference they can make in someone’s life.

“I want young people to realize first of all how much they already have in life,” Curran said. “[I want them to know] how wonderful people can be no matter how different they are, how we all share so many of the same values and how they can make a difference in the world.”

Participating in SWSP can also be a learning process for the chaperones. Gilman said she has learned so much from the communities she met on her trips.

“I’ve [seen] students learn how to appreciate what they have at home and treat people with more compassion and empathize with what other people are going through,” Gilman said.

Students’ perspectives on the world can also change. Heinrich said she started off wanting to go on the trip because she had never traveled outside of America and Europe.

“I wanted to see how other people are in the world and how life is in other types of places and in developing countries,” Heinrich said. “I oriented myself a little bit more and gain a better perspective on what I have in life.”

Gilman said she loves seeing students themselves grow from the experience.

“I get to go back and see all these students experience it for the first or second time, and I see them make such special connections with the students in the community,” Gilman said. “They miss them so much.”