Paul Fonseca of Needham, a 2012 graduate of Boston College High School, spent his April vacation volunteering in the Dominican Republic.

Fonseca and 12 other BC High students visited the children at the Ángeles de Conani Orphanage, spent time with seniors at the home for the elderly, and went to Dajabón on the Haitian border where they worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service.

The young men then went on a tour through the market spanning the bridge between the DR and Haiti, next they visited a garbage dump where 300,000 people live and work, a place called Cienfuegos.

They tried their hand at farming, planting coffee crops and terracing crops in a greenhouse. They dug latrines and laid flooring at a school. At night they lived with the host families in the campo. They even spent a day at a Benedictine monastery.

The young men were under the watchful care of BC High teachers, Kaileen Sanner Bonina and Jeffrey Devlin, working with Creighton University's Institute for Latin American Concern. “This year's trip was wonderful”, said Bonina, “like those in years past, we focused on solidarity and kinship with our Dominican brothers and sisters.” 

This coming spring BC High will sponsor Service & Justice Immersion trips to El Salvador, The Dominican Republic, Wheeling West Virginia and Camden, New Jersey.

Boston College High School is a Jesuit, Catholic, college-preparatory school for young men founded in 1863.  The school enrolls approximately 1600 students from more than 100 communities in eastern Massachusetts. For more http://www.bchigh.edu