In the stress of the school year, it is easy to be overwhelmed with extracurriculars, grades, sports, and classes. It’s during summer break when students are given the opportunity and time to volunteer. This past summer, several North Atlanta students traveled around the world to volunteer during June and July.

Mullin Underwood, a sophomore, went to Jamaica for a mission trip with 13 people from her church. Underwood traveled to the small town of Galina, on the country’s northern coast, where her church group held a vacation Bible school for village children. The volunteers also set concrete, visited with the local elderly, and gardened.

Underwood’s favorite experience was spending time at the school where she enjoyed building relationships with the children she met. She found the people in Galina to be very inviting, and she still remembers all the hugs the volunteers got from both the children and their parents. “It was really a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and an eye-opening experience to see the degrees of poverty the people there live with. It all definitely changed my middle-class mindset,” she said.

Senior Kendall De Laria went to Limerick, Ireland, in July to participate in an International Student Leadership Conference with Operation Smile. The charity provides free surgeries to repair cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities for children around the globe. De Laria said Operation Smile fits her perfectly because it combines her dream of becoming a dentist one day and her passion for helping others. Her inclination toward dentistry has been with her since her youngest days. “I want to come to work every day and give people a reason to smile,” she said.

De Laria traveled to Ireland alone, but while there, she made friends from the U.S., Ireland, Sweden, the Bahamas, Thailand, Panama and Vietnam. It was through these friendships that she was able to learn about different cultures. While there, she listened to many inspirational speakers as well as doing many activities with the other students who were there, such as the I-Party where everyone at the party brought items from their country that showed their culture. Her three favorite activities from the conference were making get-well cards for children that had surgeries done by Operation Smile, listening to Tony Humphreys, an Irish psychologist, speak, and listening to American philanthropist Maggie Doyne speak.

However not all North Atlanta students traveled internationally to volunteer, as many students opted to volunteer across Atlanta. Sophomore Lauren Parkerson volunteered at Zoo Atlanta. While at the zoo, Parkerson prepared treats for the animals, informed park guests about animals, and helped visitors when they needed assistance.

Reflecting on her summer at the famous Atlanta institution, Parkerson says her one of her favorite things during the summer was participating in all the “behind-the scenes” activities that make the zoo run smoothly. Parkerson is also grateful for the friends she made and the zoological information she learned. Particularly fun, she said, was getting to touch some of the more docile animals and helping conservation efforts for endangered species.