While spring break is a time for many students to lay back and relax, other students took the break from school as an opportunity to help others and give back to communities in need.

From March 16 to 21, 105 students participated in the annual Spring Break Service Trip to help communities affected by hurricane Michael in Mexico City and Port St. Joe, Fla.

Anna Culver, junior, attended the trip after being a part of last year’s service trip to Houston. Culver said she loves having the opportunity to give back to those in need as well as spending time with her friends on the trip.

“I love to do service and I always want to do more,” Culver said. “Spring break is the perfect time to participate in the service trip.”

Culver said she really enjoyed helping to clean up the forest area. She said her group headed out with trash bags and picked up litter and trash around the area. Students also worked towards reconstructing homes, rebuilding shorelines, and clearing debris.

“Living in Missouri, we don’t really have many natural disasters that often,” Culver said. “Florida and coastlines get hit by hurricanes yearly so it’s always nice to go down there and help when we can.”

Christine Kim, sophomore, participated in the service trip for the first time this year.

“We all felt really appreciated when people were giving thanks and felt as if we were part of something important,” Kim said.

While Kim said she loved getting the opportunity to spend time near the ocean and enjoyed the bonfire on the beach, she truly learned the importance of giving back and doing good for struggling communities.

“I really realized that there is only one Earth and people need to help each other out,” Kim said.

Senior Principal Dr. Dan Ramsey said the service trip has been a tradition for eight years and maintains MHS community’s dedication to help others.

“Just seeing so many students have fun doing good things for other people and helping others makes it all worth it,” Dr. Ramsey said. “It opens a lot of students’ eyes to what life looks like for a lot of different people in all different walks of life.”

Two years ago, the Spring Break Service Trip served the community in Apalachicola, Fla. Dr. Ramsey said he decided to return to Florida again this year because after the hurricane hit, local partners reached out for help.

“People who have been good to us and have worked hard to make trips possible in the past expressed a need for help,” Dr. Ramsey said. “I couldn’t say no – it was like ‘absolutely, we’ll come back, and we’ll help make a difference.’”