Guest submission: FALA’s 9th Trip to AZ/Mexico Border a Huge Success

FLAGSTAFF — Students at the Flagstaff Arts & Leadership Academy (FALA) have recently returned from the 9th Annual Experiential Learning Trip to the Arizona/Mexico border. This week long program is intended to provide FALA 9th-12th grade students with the opportunity to better comprehend the complexity surrounding issues related to the border and immigration policy.

The students worked with multiple organizations during their trip, including Casa Alitas, Rancho Feliz, and No More Deaths. Some volunteer work the students carried out included helping to construct a home, distributing food to local families, and delivering water supplies by established migrant corridors on Arizona’s side of the border.

Janeece Henes, a high school teacher at FALA, has been organizing the trip since its beginning in 2011. Over the years these trips have become an important tradition for the school; and educators such as Henes have seen the impact it has on the students involved.

“On these trips is where I have witnessed transformational growth in our students,” says Henes, “Students develop a real awareness of privilege, are more humble, become aware of the consciousness of consumption/material possessions, what love, family and community really means, and how the experience manifests in their artwork.”

While doing hard work to help the local community helped with physical assets for the community, students have said they gain from the experience themselves as well. For Rhyka Nelson, a senior at FALA, this was her second year going on this trip.

As Rhyka reflected on her experience, she had this to say, “You see a perspective outside of your own life and realize how much of a bubble of ignorance and fear we live in, and how terrifying it is for those who seek better futures and how the country deals with immigration, whether it be legal or illegal.”

Needless to say that the students who participate in this trip gain many memories and first-hand knowledge about the circumstances and politics surrounding the border. FALA is excited for future visits and having new students participate in this eye-opening trip.