Many hundreds of Boston College students devoted their spring vacations to a plethora of service projects in the United States and abroad. Among the largest brigades were those sent out by Boston College’s Appalachia Volunteers Program, known as “Appa,” which included approximately 90 Carroll School students, among others. Along the way, BC student volunteers caught the attention of local media, including WNCT-TV News in Greenville, North Carolina; WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina; SCNow in Florence, South Carolina; and the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Virginia.
Down the Natchez Trail
Peter Tomljanovic ’19 and Rachel Lim ’19 were among the Carroll School students who travelled to Natchez, Mississippi, to take part in Boston College’s Natchez Immersion Trip. There, they and others volunteered at Holy Family Early Learning Center/Holy Family School—the nation's oldest African American parochial school. They spent time with the preschool children, created bulletin boards, painted walls and doors, and helped out in various other ways. Tomljanovic is pictured in the first two photographs here; Lim in the three that follow:
Appalachia Volunteers
More than 500 BC students fanned out to 40 locations in Appalachia and nearby regions as part of the Appalachia Volunteers Program. “We were so lucky to have met the people that we met in the community, who were so inspiring. My hope for the trip is that we bring back a new perspective that informs the way we live our lives,” said Dylan Taylor, Carroll School ’18. He and others travelled to Morgantown, West Virginia, where they helped build homes—working on the footer of two houses and building exterior and interior walls for another house.
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Carroll School students: Dylan Taylor ’18 (second from right, first row); John King ’18 (second from left, top row); and Amy Flahive ’19 (third from right, first row).
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P.J. Lawlor, Carroll School ’17, and Anthony Alves, Morrissey College ’21, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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Anthony Golden, Carroll School ’17 (far left), in Barren Springs, Virginia.
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Tom Whittam, Carroll School ’17 (far right), at The House of the Carpenter, a faith-based service organization headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Emma Thompson is a senior in the Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences, majoring in economics and communications, and a Student Assistant in the Carroll School's Office of Marketing & Communications.
Photos of the Natchez Service Program provided by Shannon Motyka. Photos of Appalachia Volunteers Program provided by Dylan Taylor, P.J. Lawlor, Tom Whittam, and Anthony Golden.