Panama

Once strangers, now friends after Southwest Washington students experience life in Los Bajos, Panama.

April 2019 3 am, the morning of March 30th. A group of sleepy students from seven different Clark County high schools dragged themselves out of bed, grabbed their bags and met at Portland International Airport to begin their trip to Panama. We would begin our trip in silence, complete strangers, but return to the same […]

Flexibility put to the test on a Panama Thanksgiving Break Trip

November 2018 Day 1: Planning to meet at the airport at 3 am, we all had an early wake up call. Aside from the yawns, it was obvious that each of us was filled with excitement and anticipation for the week ahead. After a long day of travel, we landed in Panamá city around 7 […]

Jesuit Portland students experience life off the grid in Bajo Grande, Panama

We arrived in Panama City late at night after spending 12 hours in the Atlanta airport. We met Juan Carlos after we got through customs and all of us piled on to the big bus. A half hour later we arrived at the Jesuit retreat center and went to sleep, even though most of us […]

Marquette University High School Students in Los Lajones, Panama

The second the wheels of flight 959 touched down in Panama City, all of our semi-anxious, semi-nervous energy had gone. We were finally here we picked up our luggage and met up with our contact, Courts for Kids Panama Country Director, Juan Carlos (JC). the hot sticky Panamanian air greeted us as we walked to […]

Jesuit NOLA Students Experience Community in Puerto Lara, Panama

Back in December of last year, a group of 23 or so guys, myself included, gathered together and decided to select a Courts for Kids project in Panama for our senior service project the following summer, July of 2018. What we initially thought was a wild idea turned into, perhaps, the most exciting and fascinating […]

Long Beach State Athletes Sweat It Out in Valle Rico, Panama

Arriving in Panama, the excitement in everyone’s eyes was showing as soon as we landed in the plane, and it wasn’t just because we finally got to stand after a 7-hour ride. Making our way out of the airport, the heat and humidity slapped us right in the face. It was at that moment we […]

George Fox Men’s Basketball Team in El Chorro, Panama

Living out their team motto, “MBFO” (“Men Built for Others”), members of the university’s men’s basketball team left the comforts of home in mid-August to spend eight days in the impoverished community of El Chorro, Panama, building a multi-purpose sports court. All 16 players on the roster, joined by head coach, Maco Hamilton, and two […]

Student Work and Adventures in Rincon Hondo, Panama

Arriving at the airport was one of the most nerve-racking experiences I have had in recent years. I may be in my early thirties, but when I was in high school, I was pretty confident adults didn’t feel these kinds of nerves? That goes away, right? Nope. The thought of chaperoning 23 high schoolers I […]

Blue Jays Answer the Call to Serve on Junior Service Trip to Pumona, Panama

Over the summer, members of the class of 2018 worked hard to complete their Junior Service Projects. The Panama trip this summer was led by faculty chaperones Helen Swan and Charles Bourg. The success of the trip, however, would not have been possible without a year’s worth of planning and preparing on the part of […]

Notre Dame Preparatory in El Cacao, Panama

Have you ever gotten the feeling that you are home when you arrive someplace completely new? That is the way 19 students from Baltimore, Maryland, felt upon arrival in Panama. At the airport, two schoolteachers met and rode with us to El Cacao, where we would be staying for the next seven days. At […]

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