Most students travel to Mexico with visions of sandy beaches, warm waters and fish tacos. But earlier this month, a group of PV High students journeyed to Baja California with a different vision in mind: building houses for the needy with the organization Baja Bound.
Baja Bound is sponsored by the Accardo family and their church. Within this trip, a group of teens, accompanied by a few adults, take a trip down to Ensenada, Mexico to build homes for families in need.
“My favorite part was seeing the smiles on their faces when we were done,” sophomore Odin Bruno said.
This shared perspective from those in attendance highlights the character and values of students at PV High.
In Baja, a normal day starts at 6:30 a.m with a sunrise swim, followed by breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Then students will arrive on site at 9 a.m. and work eight hours until 5 p.m. After working, they arrive home and have dinner at 6 o’clock.
“We built the frame and the walls on the first day, and that was probably the hardest part,” sophomore Marcus Yoon said.
“When we were done, it really started to look like a house.”
The second day was dedicated to building the loft and roof.
Then, they started painting, getting everything prepped and ready for the third and final day.
“The third day we just did finishing touches and the family got to see the house,” sophomore Heath Casey said.
“I feel like I got a lot closer to my friends and also I connected with the people there and the family.”
The trip not only benefits those who are the recipients of the homes, but it also fosters a sense of community among those helping.
“It was equally rewarding for the family as it was for the volunteers,” president of the Baja Bound Club, Amelia Accardo said.
“It’s really good to see different cultures… and just how grateful they are for everything. Little things to us are like everything to them, and I feel like if we can give them that, then it really means that much more,” she said.
Accardo started this branch as a model off of her father’s branch that he runs through their church.
“I’ve been going down since I was like nine years old, and when I came to PV I wanted to broaden our reach of the program to even more people,” she said.
Accardo plans to make the trip down to Mexico a regular occurrence for PV High students and hopes to have another trip in place for spring break.
“I think next time maybe we could stay a little longer or build another house to help out the families even more,” sophomore Owen Michael said.
The community will just have to wait until next year to find out.