Pickett a Puerto Rico- Study Abroad Trip

Verified Non-Profit

Verified Non-Profit

The Description

Pickett High School is a Title I school in Philadelphia, PA.  After a hiatus from Covid-19, we are pleased to announce that we are bringing back the annual Spanish study abroad trip and will be taking 15 of our Spanish II students to Puerto Rico. Taking a small number of students, we are celebrating some of our highest achievers and hoping to provide this opportunity to continue to broaden their horizons and provide unique opportunities for our students to apply what they learn in the classroom to the real world. Highlights of our trip will include volunteering for hurricane relief on the island, and doing a language exchange with a local high school. The trip in total costs over $28,000. We are receiving $5,000 in extra curricular funds from our school, $5,000 from a donor, $8,250 through student contribution, and we must fundraise the rest. Any contribution is greatly appreciated. 

Back Up Plan

If we do not reach our goal, I will be personally subsidizing the remaining amount. If the cost is too high, worst case scenario, we will postpone the trip until the following year to allow us more time to come up with the necessary funds. 

Fundraiser Updates (1)

katarina.akridge@gmail.com

April 20, 2023

Hola Pickett Community, 

As many of you know, this spring break the Pickett Spanish department took ten of our highest achieving students abroad to Puerto Rico. The purpose of this trip was for students to contextualize the language skills they learn in the classroom and apply them by communicating with native Spanish speakers in real world situations. Aside from practicing their language skills, students were able to witness another culture first hand and learn a bit about the history, experience the culture, and engage with a place that's very different from home. 

 

That said, it takes a village to raise a child and we are all so grateful for the Pickett village that helped make this trip a possibility. We couldn’t have done it without your support and contributions to our fundraising efforts! If you donated to our Pledgecents page, regularly purchased snacks after school, wrote students a letter of recommendation to attend this trip, or supported our students financially in any way thank you! These students had a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to another place and learn through experience!

 

Now, many of you asked to see pictures and hear a bit about their experiences. Therefore, below we have thank you notes from students who attended the trip and pictures of some of the highlights of the trip. 

 

Again, ¡muchísimas gracias! We couldn’t have done it without you!

 

Sincerely,

Profe Cabañez and Profe Akridge

 

Thank you for helping me get to Puerto rico. I got to learn about that amazing culture. I work on my Spanish and learn about history. And tried really great foods. This trip made me want to travel more and get better at my spanish. So thank you so much for your help because of you I got to have a great experience.

-Serena Beatty

 

Dear Supporters , 

My name is Tatiana Hubert and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your support in funding the Puerto Rico trip. I would like to let you know that I had a lovely time in PR. Learning about Puerto rican culture and cuisine gave me a genuine love and appreciation for the people of Puerto rico. I would say that my favorite part of the trip was the tour of Old San Juan. I got the opportunity to see a lot of beautiful views and really nice people. Everyone was so welcoming and I could honestly say that I would love to visit again. With this being said I want to say thank you again for giving me and my fellow classmates a chance to visit Puerto Rico.

-Tatiana 

 

To whom it may concern, 

            Thank you for all your efforts and support in helping us attend our trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I had an amazing time with my classmates and it was exciting to learn their history! I loved the food! I really enjoyed the pool and hot tub that the hotel offered. It was relaxing and a lot of fun to joke around with my friends. I also loved climbing the rocks in the river while hiking through the rainforest. ¡Fue muy calente! However, I really did love walking in the sunshine. I think it really energized me. Overall, I had a lot of fun in Puerto Rico and it was nice to experience their culture for the first time. Thank you so much for supporting us to go!

Love,

            Gabrielle Shorter

 

I'm not gonna lie before the trip, I was nervous because I thought it would be hard to accustom to a lifestyle culturally different from what I'm used to. When we arrived I thought it was so pretty and saw so much scenery and culture. We went to the pool every night, it was very humid and windy, we went to the beach, a rainforest, 2 puerto rican colombian historical museums, and many puerto rican restaurants. Where we tried many puerto rican dishes, heard many cultured songs, and learned about hispanic culture. Overall I loved visiting Puerto Rico to practice Spanish and try new foods, if i could go back I would and i wish i could've stayed longer and most likely would’ve done more while i was there.

-Tatiana Myers

 

Supporters of the PR trip,

Thank you to all the supporters and people who donated for us to have the great experiences in Puerto Rico.You all allowed us to have tours around San Juan including museums.We were able to have a tour of a rainforest in Puerto Rico but I was a little disappointed that we didn't climb trees.We got to see the different culture in Puerto Rico and try different foods including one of my favorites “Skirt Steak”.We had a nice hotel and got to meet some wonderful people like our tour guides and receptionist.

-Ke´shon Hickman Williams

 

Dear everyone, 

My name is Janiahya Rozier and I just want to take this time to thank everyone who donated allowances towards us in order for us to go to Puerto Rico. We had an awesome time; everything was beautiful and delightful. The food was very tasty and I tried things I never had before. The hotel was nice and the pool and hot tub was fun and relaxing. The tour guide was adventurous and unique. I saw an area in a town where I saw so many cats that I had never seen before. It was just like their own little town. Then we visited a church where they had sculptures of saint Mary and Jesus and other historical characters which really touched my soul. The next day, we went to a museum that talked about Spanish culture and art. We also visited another museum which was very fulfilling. The whole trip was fun, educational, and worth the money. I would like to visit again with my family, but thank you all for your donations. We really appreciate it.

Sincerely, 

Janiahya Rozier

 

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for your support and donations for the Puerto Rico trip! It was really fun

and very educational. I learned a lot of new things and had many great

interactions with people and my fellow peers. Everybody was really nice and

willing to help with our Spanish. It was really awesome. Everyday was my

favorite but I mostly enjoyed the 3rd day. It was really exciting going to the

rainforest and dipping our feet in the lake. I speak for all of us when I say

we had the time of our lives and we would 100% do it again! On our last day

there I got sunburn at the beach and that was the only thing that I didn't like

about our trip. In the end, it was very hot but I would definitely do it again,

with more sunscreen lol! We learned more about Puerto Rican culture and got to

experience different interactions and food. I am so grateful that I got to go

on the Puerto Rico tr

ip and step out of my comfort zone with my peers. It felt

like I had a second family :)! To sum it up Thank you so much for the

opportunity to attend Puerto Rico!

                 Sincerely,

                        Z’Kya <3

 

Dear everyone that contributed to the success of the Puerto Rico trip,

This trip had a huge impact on me and I will never forget it. I was able to improve in comprehending and speaking Spanish all throughout the trip.I tried different foods and was able to experience Puerto Rican culture. This trip is unforgettable because it’s the start of my travels and I plan on traveling to many more places along with becoming fluent in Spanish. I’m very thankful to everyone that played a role in this educational trip, I learned a lot and had a great time.                                                                                          

                                                                                                       Con amor, Taahira Walker 

 

Your generosity made it possible for us to have fun on this incredible journey and explore the city of food, history, and beauty of Puerto Rico. The trip was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, and it wouldn't have been possible without your contribution THANK YOU!

 

The memories we created during our time in Puerto Rico will be cherished forever, not the skirt steak, and I'm so grateful to everyone on the trip for making it all possible. And the bonds I build on this trip with peers have extended outside of the trip so thank you Profe for helping me get closer to my peers outside the classroom

-Zaire Cooper

 

Thank you for supporting us and helping us so that we could go on that fantastic trip to puerto rico.My personal favorite part of the trip was the food.I like to try all types of new things so trying puerto rican food was really different but it was expected.I expected that the food was going to be different and a lot of pork.I tried plantains and all types of bean sauces.The tours of old san juan and the agriculture was very nice. 

-David Baker

 

Visiting Old San Juan and El Castillo San Felipe del Morro


At El Yunque Rainforest, where the highlight was taking a dip in the river after a 20 minute hike.


More good times at El Yunque

 

Exploring Old San Juan!

 

Trying New Foods!

 

Comments (2)

Cynthia Robtoy December 12, 2022

Have a wonderful trip!!!

Tiffany November 18, 2022

Great job Kat. Keep up the awesome work!

Leave a Comment

About the Creator

¡Hola! My name is Profe Akridge and I teach high school Spanish 1 at Mastery Charter Pickett Campus, a Title 1 school in Philadelphia, PA. I am passionate about educational equity and aim to provide as many opportunities for my students as possible.

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