Tuesday, Dec. 2, saw a cold, cloudy morning, but that did not stop the students of Spanish 7/8 Honors and their teacher, Shannon Barden, from making their way over to Paz de Cristo. The mission at Paz de Cristo is to “Feed, Clothe, and Empower” those in need located in the East Valley Phoenix area. The students of Horizon Honors were able to participate in this mission.

Throughout the day, different tasks were performed by the students and other volunteers such as helping guests receive their food and assisting them to their car to put the food away. Junior Ryan Engelbrecht said, “The work was fun because it’s always nice to do stuff like that for the less fortunate. It really warms your heart!”

But the fun volunteer work was not the only reason the Spanish class went on the field trip. Many of the people who come to Paz de Cristo only speak Spanish. This allowed students the opportunity to practice and improve their own Spanish-speaking talents through real-life experience methods. Junior Brogan Taylor was pleasantly surprised, “It was really cool, I actually understood what the people were saying. I didn’t expect the conversations to flow so easily!”  One of the best techniques to learn a language is by listening to a native speaker use it, and the students noticed that their own abilities improved as the day went on.

Engelbrecht, Taylor, and their fellow classmates all agreed that it was a great learning experience, and easily a great experience in general. Taylor added, “It was awesome that we were able to put our school work to good use with community service!” The students are hoping to return to Paz de Cristo later in the school year for round two of their inspiring, educating fieldtrip.