We painted walls in a school, put up ceiling tiles, shadowed students, and picked trash from one of the many illegal hillside trash dumps. Knee deep in filth, wading through the dirt, garbage, bones, dog carcasses, and syringes, we worked with dozens of other college and local students and left David, Kentucky, the site of our Appalachia Seminar experience, with the understanding of what service to and by many people can accomplish.
Communities can achieve greatness if willing people communicate, work hard, and have a vision.
Lined up in a row of twelve with a bag of seeds tucked under our arm, we began the laborious process of planting two to three seeds every small step in the tilled fields. Droplets of sweat poured down our faces under the 95-degree heat. The plants that were to grow from our work would prevent further erosion of the surrounding land. Twelve Notre Dame students on the Mexico Seminar discovered how demanding life is for many other people throughout the world. Away from the classroom-based learning, we breached real life subjects and formed opinions on how to improve our country.