Third-year Nursing student Nicole Burkhardt has traveled to Villa Soleada and Nuevo Blanco to build schools the past two years through Students Helping Honduras — an organization which aims to end poverty through education and empowerment.
Burkhardt, who founded the University’s chapter of the national organization two years ago, serves as the group’s president.
“We had a high school chapter [of SHH], and then I came here and [there was no chapter], but I saw so much potential in U.Va.,” Burkhardt said. “Everyone here loves service and being involved, and I just wanted that back in my life, so I started a CIO.”
Starting the University chapter from scratch proved to be a challenge for Burkhardt, who had to compete with other organizations which send students to travel abroad, but she found herself pleasantly surprised by student response to SHH.
“We had about 20 people come on our first trip ever, which was really awesome,” Burkhardt said. “My goal was three, so that was kind of crazy… It’s been really cool to watch it grow. I think people stick with it, especially once they go to Honduras, and they meet the kids and [experience] the culture and the people. They get invested in starting to build a school.”
This past winter break, Burkhardt, along with second-year College student Maggie Gratz, joined over 40 students on the group’s annual service trip to a new site, Nuevo Blanco.
“[Our annual trip is] an eight day trip [during which] we head down [to Honduras] and construct bilingual schools,” Gratz said. “So this past winter, we broke ground on a new school called Florencio Reyes. In the spring, we come back, and we continue with fundraising.”
Last spring, the group met their fundraising goal of $5,000 and donated the money towards a new computer lab in Villa Soleada.
“When we visited [Villa Soleada] this past winter before we went to our new village, [we] got to put up a plaque saying, ‘University of Virginia sponsored computer lab,’” Gratz said. “Seeing the kids [learn] on the computers [and know] how to use them was pretty cool.”
This spring, students have reached their fundraising goal of $25,000. For April, SHH has organized several events, including a philanthropic thrift shop, Burpees for Blocks, a Chipotle night, a fundraiser at Bluetique and the HonduRUN 5K. Fraternity Sigma Pi plans to donate all funds from their Surf n’ Turf philanthropy to SHH.
“We want to be an even bigger chapter, we want even more people to come on our service trips, we want to be independently fundraising [for our] schools when we come back because we have [enough] manpower that we can do it,” Burkhardt said.
The University’s chapter of SHH stands apart from other service CIOs because the continuous nature of building and fundraising provides students the opportunity to become involved with a new community of people, Burkhardt and Gratz said.
“There are so many trips here where you go on a brigade and then you come home and that’s it,” Burkhardt said. “What I love about Students Helping Honduras is that we go back to the same village and we work with the same people and the same communities, so we have an ever-forming relationship … I feel like we’re actually making a difference and seeing that play through.”
SHH members value their focus on a specific service goal, which provides an ideal model for a nonprofit organization, Burkhardt said.
“There are times when you have to have a more specific focus and so we’re passionate about working with one community with continuity [in order] to make a small scale difference,” Burkhardt said. “Everyone gets some type of leadership experience out of the trip, no matter what role they play. I think it’s really cool for them to have leadership and just be part of something bigger, become more of a global citizen and [become a] more aware, empowered, knowledgeable person. It’s not just travelling — it’s service travelling [and] service learning.”
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