Synergy School Puerto Rico 2025
January 31, 2025
We woke up with pretty tired and amazingly still made it through the day! San Juan itself was amazing! We had a blast walking through old San Juan and made some memories that will last a long time. It was very pretty, we saw beautiful buildings and forts. We had an amazing meal at one of the oldest restaurants in San Juan. Then we did some shopping at local shops and went home where we swam at the beach. It rained on and off all day with short but strong bursts of wind and rain. In the ocean we played six flags up and volleyball. We had a lot of fun at the beach. Overall, we had a very fun first day and hope tomorrow is even more fun.
By Ari, Wyatt, and Sky
February 1, 2025
As strong independent 8th graders, we rose out of our sheets to get ready for the day. The two teachers, Jeff and Ariel, decided to bust down our doors at the crack of dawn. After getting ready we hopped in the van and started driving towards our destination. The drive was about one hour long, and it was very beautiful. After arriving we got out of the van and greeted a lovely family and thick coated jungle dog named Cosmos. We then started walking down to the ceremonial bonfire. We also got to meet the local Taíno cacique (chief) who led us through a ritual of the four directions. The group then walked down to the river to cover ourselves in the volcanic clay which is very high in nutrients and is very good for the skin. Everybody had the opportunity to leap into the clear river. The group waded over to the ancient petroglyphs that only a limited number of people have seen. The day ended with a delicious, scrumptious, massive lunch that contained rice, lentils, mofongo, cream sauce, fresh local cranberry juice, and a banana cookie. Overall it was a great day and we had a massive amount of fun learning about a culture we have never been indulged in.
By Rio, Ryder, Raini
February 2, 2025
Today was our first day doing construction in Villa del Río. We got a good night’s sleep in preparation for the day to come. In almost no time we found ourselves getting instructed by Angel and William –and glorious Eggy— on how to do things like tie rebar, make cement, and construct walls. We found the construction tiring yet rewarding with the fact we were giving a family a house. The lunch was FIRE, I mean absolutely fire. We got red rice (yum!), a chicken curry (also yum), salad (also yum) and for the vegetarians in the group veggie nuggets. After lunch we went back to work and were taught how to make a frame for future concrete pouring –buuut we didn’t have time to do that; we’ll start on that tomorrow! Then we went to the beach and will finish up our day with salsa night!
By Weston, Isaac, Ava
February 3, 2025
Today we woke up at 7:00, we brushed our teeth and changed into our work clothes to head to the worksite; after getting dressed, we headed to the kitchen to eat breakfast. For breakfast we had hash browns and egg muffins. We started our drive to the worksite while listening to a hit playlist that we created before the Puerto Rico trip. When arriving at the worksite we greeted William, Angel, and Eggy like we’ve known them all our life. Then we started with William giving us a lesson on how to start to stabilize the wall and allowing us to learn through a hands-on experience instead of just watching. We worked for about two hours till we had lunch but unfortunately, we had to stop working for the day due to the constant rain. We greeted Maria, Maria’s daughter, and her grandchildren and we grabbed our plates and ate our very delicious lunch, after we all ate, we washed our dishes and were hanging out with Maria’s dogs untill the vans came. When we got back, we cleaned our rooms for a little while and went to the beach. It was super fun at the beach. We played volleyball, mermaids, this turtle game and a football-like game. Then Jeff led us toward a new adventure as we hiked up the hill that surrounded the beach. We came to the top to see the Caribbean coast at sunset. We ended the day with a very delicious pasta dinner.
By Izzy, Hazel, Paulette, Earl
February 4, 2025
After waking up at 6 A.M. and driving for 40 minutes, we arrived at Finca Semila farm. The farm is independent and run by a woman named Desenia and her family. We were greeted by Andrea, another employee of the farm, and given a description of the basics of the farm. It mainly grows cacao, which it manufactures into chocolate, but they also grow plantains, bananas, limes, mangoes, pineapples, and coffee. Andrea and the teachers split us into three groups— one planting pepper plants, one planting beets and weeding, and the third splitting cacao and planting seeds. We worked for about two hours, some of us getting utterly covered in mud, before finishing up and eating lunch. Lunch was rice, chicken, vegetables, and bean salad for the vegetarians.
After lunch, Desi, the owner of the farm, let us try cacao beans and some chocolate. With Christian, Anya, Ari and Jaden translating, she walked us through tasting chocolate like a professional. Once we’d all tasted some and she’d explained the difference between the chocolate bars and the truffles, she led us through a short tour of the farm— from the fields to the greenhouse. In the greenhouse, she explained that she founded the farm due to the food insecurity in Puerto Rico and the fact that 90 percent of its food is imported, saying she wanted to be part of the solution.
Once we got back from the farm, after having a short community meeting, we went to the beach. Some people body surfed, while others simply swam, dived and floated. When we returned we did an activity before dinner. Overall, today was amazing and we had a lot of fun at the cacao farm!
By Julian, Darin, Anya
February 5, 2025
Today we woke up at our usual time, 7 am. It was pouring rain, and we were questioning If we could work today. After some investigation into the weather app we collectively decided that we can work today. We got ready and hopped in the vans! After our Disney sing along we got dropped off at our work sight. Today we started a new project on a fellow community member, Micheal’s house. Today our main priority was to make the cement and pour it into his front patio. After many hours of tough work, we had finally finished the project that we had started on that same day. After we ate some amazing food prepared by the amazing María. Our plan was to do extra construction work but due to the weather we just put on our extra clothes and hopped back to the van to go to the Big Yellow House. Since we are heading to our next destination and leaving the Big Yellow House, we all worked together to clean up the kitchen, yard, rooms, and bathrooms. Soon after we were done packing and cleaning it was too late to head to the beach, but we took this extra time to shower and prep for our guests from the community that we were helping the past couple of days. With our lovely burger and fries dinner we all ate as a family and said goodbyes. In conclusion, we had a very productive final work day and we will miss working on the projects that we have put so much of our blood, sweat, and tears into.
By Dom, Jaden, Jemma
February 6, 2025
Today was our last day in Puerto Rico and it ended up as our most packed day yet. We started out the morning at 7am as usual, enjoyed our last breakfast at the Big Yellow House and finished cleaning out our rooms. We finished in the house and split into two groups to pile into the vans for a long drive to a super muddy trail to swim in a river for about a half hour. After all but throwing out our muddy shoes we got back into the vans and listened to Disney music on the drive to lunch. When lunch was over we had about an hour to go shopping at the Kioskos in Luqillo. We then checked in to our hostel Casa Coral where we were able to swim in the river alongside the beach. We then had a reflection party and a pizza party. Soon we’re heading off to a kayak tour of the Bio Bay! Can’t wait to tell you all about it tomorrow!
By Natalia, Christian, Romie
