Rider Students Build Up Hope in Belize

Recently, a group of Rider students and graduates traveled to Belize to construct a hurricane-proof playground area for students at St. Andrew’s Anglican School in San Ignacio Town in the Central American country’s Cayo district.

In a week’s time, from Saturday, May 17, through Saturday, May 24, the volunteers were able to transform an open lot into a play area that included swing sets, seesaws, a playhouse and tire tower, complete with shade. In the process, the volunteers learned how to meld and mix cement.

“For more than 60 years, the school hasn’t had a playground,” explained Heather Brisby, coordinator of Community Service at Rider. During lunch, the students would have to sit in a dirty, grassy area outside in the sun, she added. “A lot of children came from poverty.”

In addition to constructing a brand new playground for the school, the volunteers spent time during the day as teacher assistants and tutored the students English, math and heath and nutrition. The volunteers handed out 100 toothbrushes donated by Mercer Street Friends, as well as toothpaste and floss, donated by Trenton-area dentists. In the afternoons, after school, the Rider volunteers spent time playing outside with the school children. They had also donated recreational equipment, including Frisbees and jump ropes.

When the week was over, the students from St. Andrew’s paid tribute to all the hard work by singing songs and giving homemade cards to the volunteers. The group’s hard work also made headlines, when a story about the service project appeared in a newspaper in Belize.

“The service trip allowed the volunteers to really learn to appreciate the lives that they have,” Brisby said. “The group walked a way amazed at what they could do.”

The service project evolved from conversations with Peacework with ProWorld Service Corps., a partner of the Corella and Bertram Bonner Foundation. The RCS/Bonner Leaders program at Rider University offers students a chance to effect change in the community by working with local partners to address hunger, homelessness, adult literacy and at-risk youth. Brisby said a lot of Bonner Leaders work with at-risk children in the Mercer County area, but there was a strong interest to give back on an international scale.

The Bonner Leaders from Rider who participated in the service project were: Nicole Addesso of Cape May, N.J., a junior Accounting major; Uchenna Duru of Maplewood, N.J., who recently graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management; Krista Fincke of Cranford, N.J., who recently graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and Integrated Sciences and Math; Chelsea Kovacs of Bloomfield, N.J., a senior Elementary Education and Psychology major; Rob Liao of Columbus, N.J., a junior Finance and Global Business double major; Indya Murray of Hamilton, N.J., a senior Sociology major; Jessica O’Neill of North Bergen, junior Elementary Education Psychology major; Lindsey Peletier of Oceanside, N.Y., a junior Psychology major; and Ashley Richert of Vineland, N.J., a junior Elementary Education and Psychology major. Former Bonner Leader Lindsey Thomas of Blackwood, N.J., a 2007 graduate with a degree in Elementary Education and Psychology, also participated in the service project.

Two students outside of the Bonner program also participated. Emily Di Paulo of Pittsford, N.Y., a junior Elementary Education and Psychology major, is a member of Rider SERVES and Lena Ricioppi of Franklin Square, N.Y., a junior Management and Leadership and Human Resource Management double major, is a member of Circle K.

Submitted on June 5, 2008