Prospect Hill Academy Puerto Rico 2026
June 8, 2026
Yesterday we toured Old San Juan learning about the history of the town, seeing many beautiful statues and historic areas. We first visited the historical landmark, Paseo de la Princesa.
Sila María Calderón was the first female mayor of Puerto Rico and made a great impact. She created programs to help children and women. Her programs inspired president John F Kennedy to bring the program for child education in the US. She was also the main reason why JFK won the presidency, she gathered the support of 100,000 of Puerto Ricans to help him win a close vote.
After viewing Paseo de la Princesa, we continued our tour of Old San Juan visiting El Morro, which is the largest Fortress in Puerto Rico. It is six stories long and was used to help defend Puerto Rico in times of War.
To end our tour of Old San Juan we went souvenir shopping and enjoyed some nice frozen treats!
By Layla, Chesney & Lily
June 9, 2026
Today we worked at a construction site to build an extension of a resident’s house. This involved a LOT of concrete and it got all over everyone’s clothes. We scooped a ton of rocks and dirt into buckets and then we poured all of that into a giant concrete mixer.
Before visiting the house we were educated on the reasons why Global Works works with the community where we worked, and why that became so important after Hurricane Maria. They emphasized the importance of reinforced concrete since it would protect future generations from natural disasters. We worked from 10:00 to 2:00 and it was grueling.
We were given lunch by Maria, who is a partner with global works and she supplied an array of food from rice, to chicken, to bean salad, as well as an assortment of dressings and condiments. There was also tabasco branded sriracha sauce and it was pretty good (Ms. Le said it was a 7/10).
We left the construction site and we finally went back to the big yellow house to get ready to go to the beach. We played Marco Polo and Volleyball and it was really fun. After we left the beach, we came back to the house to eat dinner and to take our sunset pictures which were arranged by Allaynah Brioche.
Dinner was composed of chicken, rice, and salad. After dinner, we took our sunset themed photos and got ready for salsa night which was taught by a really great local woman, Yara. After a night of salsa dancing, we were all super tired and we are looking forward to and dreading the days of work we have ahead of us. It was really tiring and we have never felt as sweaty and dirty as we did today after work. It felt satisfying though so hopefully it continues to be as fulfilling as it was today.
By Duncan, Kelly, Vibhor, Chesney
June 10, 2026
Today we had a really active day and it was hotter than yesterday. We helped Ashley and her family finish the second part of the wall today, and we gladly completed it which made our group very happy. We got to go back to the big yellow house early and have free time. We were happy because all of us put hard work into all the work into all the different jobs we completed and seeing the wall get completed gave us satisfaction. Although it was hot, as a group we still managed to get a lot of work done and the workers were supportive and fun. The reggaeton music also helped motivate us to finish up the work faster. The family was very welcoming and were incredibly grateful to have us. We saw how small actions can create big impacts and one of our biggest takeaways was to always be grateful for what we have and to find joy even in rough moments. We went to the beach after free time and we all had fun. Our class became a lot stronger because we went through hardships together but we were also able to bond together in fun moments. We went to the big yellow house and got ready for dinner. The food was pasta with meat sauce and rice with cookies. After dinner, we reflected on our time and perspectives of Puerto Rico and called it a day.
By Micah and Dylan
June 11, 2026
Today we went to Luquillo for work, which was an hour and thirty minutes away. This was the farthest we traveled for a work day. We learned a little bit about the rainforest by our tour guide Ramon! After doing a little bit of learning, we helped clean a part of the rainforest. We did trash pickup and moved the branches and leaves out of the way. Afterwards we went to lunch and went around doing more souvenir shopping. Some kids during this time went to get coconut water, ice cream, souvenirs, shirts and key chains. After that we went to a nearby river and learned to paddle board while learning about the home of and the importance of the rainforest. Towards the end of the paddle boarding we learned about leather beach sea turtles and how we need to protect them. Then we headed back to shore and got ready for dinner. Wish we could stay longer but unfortunately we can’t 🙁
By Allaynah, Gaby, Te’Mia, Emely
