The St. Bernard Project (SBP) was founded in 2006. It's a nonprofit organization that works to rebuild houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and continue to build new houses for the people affected by the hurricane. The mission of the SBP is to help ensure that tragedy-impacted communities are able to recover. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to work with the SBP's Rebuilding Program and Opportunity Housing Program the summer before my senior year of high school. I spent a week in New Orleans for my senior service project, rebuilding homes that Hurricane Katrina had destroyed over ten years ago. My classmates and I mudded holes, painted walls, scraped mold, and hammered nails. And looking back, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Throughout that week there were many times when I was ready to give up. But I didn’t, and that’s something great that I have taken away from the experience. I learned that I could push myself in ways that I never thought were possible. The heat in New Orleans was a new experience in its own. The humidity there is unbearable. But it did however help me reach a conclusion, and for that I am grateful; I did not want attend college in the South. I also learned that I can step out of my comfort zone, and it’s okay to do so. In fact, I was forced to step out of the tiny box that one would be content in.

We spent the week living in a homeless shelter near the French Quarter. It was a long week. But I learned something from being in such close quarters with people who I had only ever glanced at as they walked by me in the hall. I learned that when a group of people come together with a common goal, amazing things happen. People forget about the past, and all judgment gets pushed aside. I had never talked to some of my classmates before the trip, yet we spent every night playing cards and board games in the dining hall, and it didn’t matter if we had never talked to each other before. Most nights we stayed up well past our bedtime, sharing stories with teachers I never thought I’d talk to. When it comes down to it, one of the greatest lessons I learned was that people will give up their jurisdictions of others.

Not only did I learn something about others, and myself, I also learned about what it means to serve. Serving is placing others’ interests ahead of our own interests. We spent long afternoons under the hot June sun, and the labor was definitely hard. Looking back, I don’t think there was a day that I could say, “That day wasn’t so bad.” But I knew what we were doing was going to benefit another person. Whenever I was tired and was ready to be done, I started thinking about how slow the day was going by, and how badly I wanted it to be over. I soon learned that that was not the right mindset to have, because it made the day seem so much longer. So instead, I started reminding myself why I was there. I thought about the fact that the house I was standing in, the one that I was helping rebuild, was going to go to a family. Then I started thinking about how happy they were going to be when they could finally have a home to call their own, and I wished so badly to see their faces when they walked into it for the first time.

The New Orleans service trip made me want to continue to serve. Before the trip, I enjoyed helping others, but not in the same way that I do now. I feel like now I have an easier time finding a personal connection to those I am serving. Part of me thinks it is because I’m growing older and am more mature, but I also think that the service trip had a big part to do with it as well. I came home with a bigger desire to help others than I had when I left. You never know what service has in store for you. For me, it opened my eyes to a whole new world. I had never seen such conditions of poverty like the ones I saw in New Orleans. It was definitely something that most people my age aren’t accustomed to, and because of that, I feel very privileged to have had such an opportunity. So my advice to you is, find something that you’re passionate about and do it. If you love helping others and have ever considered going on a service trip, don't wait! You won't regret it. Go to a town destroyed by natural disaster and rebuild lives and hope of the people that live there. You never know what you’ll learn about yourself when you give to those around you.