The following post features student writing.

I am Emerson O. I’m from Burlington, VT and in 9th grade. Life in the campo starts every day at around 7 AM. Depending on how much a local kid likes you, that’s when their day starts as well. Once you wake up, you will head to the common area for breakfast before heading off to work at the first site. We usually work for around three hours before heading back to the campo for lunch and for free time to play with the locals or just relax. After free time is over, the group will head to work site number two (the kids usually follow) to help more locals. Once the floor is covered and smoothed we move back to the campo for more free time to bond with the kids, and to take a bucket shower. Soon dinner is prepared, and the group sits down to eat, and the lucky couple picked randomly gets to clean up. After dinner, the children are gone, so we have time to wind down or take a shower if you didn’t before. Before we go to sleep, the group meets to talk about the highs and lows of the day as well as shout outs to fellow travelers discussing what they did well that day. Once the meeting is over, we head to the room to talk before falling asleep — and that’s the average day in the campo!