Every year, high school students across America have the opportunity to volunteer their service for a variety of Latin American communities through Amigos de las Americas (Amigos), a national non-profit organization that requires extensive time and training.

Six students from Gunn are part of the Amigos program this year, including senior Annika Christensen, juniors Mackenzie Ruehl and Rachel Wittenauer and sophomores Shaya Christensen, Anna von Clemm and Russell Savage. Annika and Ruehl are both part of the training staff, which is a group of returning Amigos volunteers who prepare the newcomers for their trip.

“Amigos is an organization that promotes community development, youth leadership and multicultural understanding,” Ruehl said. Volunteers spend six to eight weeks during the summer in their host community. Host communities vary from year to year, but are usually in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras. The volunteers live with a host family that is responsible for their safety and well-being, and work with communities in groups of two or three other Amigos peers.

The process starts in October with recruitment. The training staff is responsible for sending mass e-mails and giving presentations to Spanish classes to try to attract potential volunteers. “I thought it was an interesting opportunity, but I wasn’t able to find time over the summer this year,” junior Kevin Shin said. “I think, however, it is a fantastic opportunity because it allows the student to leave the comfort of their own homes.” Students who are interested in the program must attend several meetings and an interview before being admitted to the program.

“It becomes pretty apparent in the interviews how interested the students are and what their commitment level is,” Ruehl said. “And this year we picked such a charismatic and energetic group—it’s great. We have a great diversity of volunteers and you can really tell that these people are willing to give [Amigos] their best effort.”

Once selected to be an official Amigos volunteer, the training begins and lasts until the actual trip in the summer. Volunteers fill out a request form, rank which communities they would like to volunteer in and submit it to the Amigos office in Houston, Texas. The country assignments are not released until March.

“My favorite part [of Amigos] is getting to know the culture,” Ruehl said. “It’s rewarding to help people but the main purpose is to experience the culture of another country at a level that is rarely understood. It changes your perspective and gives you an important multicultural vision that helps us become responsible human beings.”

While service projects vary from community to community, the volunteers have a purpose to accomplish by the end of their stay. Within the first week of their arrival, all volunteers are required to call a town meeting to discuss what the villagers would like to see worked on. This is called the Community Based Initiative (CBI), for which the volunteers apply to the host country’s government for funds. For example, Ruehl, who was in Michoacán, Mexico last summer, helped the village to build three bus stops. In addition to the CBI, they are also assigned another job, such as teaching classes in Spanish about health or environment.

“My least favorite part of Amigos has to be the first couple of weeks [in the host community],” junior veteran volunteer Audrey Buatois said. “You have to adjust to being where you are because you were just suddenly thrown into a new culture and language. But after you get used to it, it’s great.” Buatois went to Mexico this summer as part of the Amigos program.

Prior to the actual trip, the volunteers are required to undergo extensive leadership and language training because the locals in rural Latin America generally only know Spanish. While fluency in Spanish is not required, all volunteers must have taken at least two years of Spanish.

“It was really frustrating to have to speak Spanish all the time at first,” Ruehl said. “I was using the classroom Spanish that I knew and I was shy. I completely lost my ability to communicate effectively and eloquently when I went to Mexico. I’m fluent in English but I’m still a big time student when it comes to Spanish.”

The training program for Amigos is separated into three periods: fundraising, service learning and multicultural understanding.

According to Ruehl, the cost of this program is $2500, which is paid in monthly installments. As a result, volunteers are required to sell 50 boxes of grapefruits for $20 per box and 75 poinsettias at $13 per plant.

“[Volunteers] need to have the ability to fundraise in order to successfully implement their project,” Ruehl said.

As a part of the service-learning portion, volunteers have to facilitate a class for two Saturdays at Castro Elementary School. By teaching other children who, according to Ruehl, speak mostly Spanish, it forces the volunteers to practice their communication skills.

“It was a growing experience for me because I became more independent,” Buatois said. In addition, it helps the volunteers design and implement a lesson plan successfully.

While the idea of volunteering and culture immersion might be appealing to some, others are skeptical about the trade off. “I think that many love the challenges, but others are deterred by them,” Shin said. “I wasn’t too crazy about the fact that not only is it over the summer, but it’s also time-consuming. You’ll have to live apart from your family and speak in a different language.”

However, Buatois had a positive experience with Amigos. “It’s a one-of-a-kind experience, and being a part of Amigos is probably one of the best decisions I’ve made,” she said.

Students can help support the 2008 Amigos group by purchasing a box of grapefruits or poinsettias from Shaya Christensen, Savage, von Clemm or Wittenauer.