Over summer break, principal Eric Hamilton flew out to Puerto Rico to assist with hurricane relief.

After Hurricane Maria made landfall last fall, the strong winds and storms caused major devastation and widespread destruction on the island. It left the island without power for many months and destroyed homes, buildings and schools. Hamilton, who is part of the non-profit group Relief Through Leadership, was able to volunteer his time and abilities for four days straight, assisting with the restoration of the island.

With the efforts of the team, Hamilton was able to take action and clean up a local elementary school, Escuela Rafael De Jesus which is located in a highly impoverished area. As they were working on the many repairs the school required, the building was falling apart due to the water saturated concrete. 

Before Hamilton and the rest of the group left, they made a further impact by donating 50 Chromebooks that were still in good shape, as well as some desktop computers previously used by Antioch Community High School. In addition, every child was given a bag of brand new school supplies to use in their classes.

“I shipped school supplies [via Amazon] down there,“ Hamilton said. “Each teacher was given a bag of supplies for each kid.”

The organization was happy to improve the learning environment and provide sorely needed resources. 

“The goal is to make this a recurring event,“ Hamilton said. “There is still two other buildings to be worked on.”

There are future plans to send 75 more Chromebooks this coming fall, and plans to go back and repair more.