Our final pictures

We are all lucky to be part of the MS 136 family.  Our school mission statement is: "Inspiring young minds today.  Empowering leaders for tomorrow."  All of the students on this trip made a difference.  They helped each other, they planted an orchard of fruits and medicinal plants, they helped donate school supplies, they interacted with children from other schools, and they demonstrated their leadership qualities by using the 7 habits of highly effective people.  We can only imagine how much more these young adults will contribute to the world as they continue to grow and learn through education.

Thank you to all of the amazing people who helped make this trip a success!

Thank you to Miguel, Stephan, and Gina.  They always made sure that we had everything we needed,  they fed us well, and they made sure that we had the best experience possible.

Thank you to our doctors Marta and Mark.  They were with us from the moment we landed to the moment we left to make sure that if any of us got sick, they were there to help.

These were our tour guides.  They taught us about the plants, the animals, they took us on day and night hikes, night boat rides, monkey island, bird watching, and dolphin watching.  Thank you for making sure that we were always safe during our adventures.

More examples of student work

Leadership day presentations on poems, arts and crafts, and medicinal plants from Peru.

Match the medicinal plant to its use.

During the trip, the rainfall and temperature was recorded for 5 days.  The students had to find the average rainfall and temperature, graph the data, and answer questions based on the data collected.

Here, the students answered questions based on their visit to Nuevo Loreto and drew pictures of the plants in their orchard.

The students had to write descriptive words while uses their 5 senses as they sat on a bridge over the water.  They then had to use those words to write a descriptive narrative.   This is only one of the great stories they wrote.

Hotel Amazon

Check out "Hotel Amazon" on the Travel Channel Monday night March 9th at 10pm.  This show will feature how the lodge we stayed at came to be.

It was hard to keep up sometimes!

They were up at 6am everyday to go bird watching and didn't go to bed until 10pm after an evening activity.

Students working in their notebooks.

Everyday, the students had worksheets to complete in their notebooks and daily journals documenting their experiences.

In these pictures, the students are writing down observations while using their 5 senses.  Then, they had to write a narrative, as an explorer, describing their experiences.

Our visit to the 2 villages nearby.

MS 136 was the first New York City Middle School to visit these villages in Peru.  We donated some school supplies and sports equipment.  One student (Anay) even brought 32 small toys to donate to the children in one of the villages!  We were honored in how they welcomed us for the short time we spent together.  Thank you.

Planting the orchard

Our students went to the jungle in search of medicinal plants and foods for the orchard near the lodge.  These plants will later support the village with food and medicine.  It was really surprising to see how many kids did not know how to use a shovel. They realized how much work goes into supporting a family when you have to grow your own food.

Our future leaders