Sara Wynne, a junior at the University of Scranton, traveled to New Orleans during the 2024 Intersession trip with the Center for Community and Social Justice, or CSSJ.  

Natural disasters devastated hundreds of homes in New Orleans, so CSSJ partnered with St. Bernard Project to help rebuild homes.  

Wynne, along with eight other university students and two chaperones, stayed at Camp Hope and worked for two out of the five days to reconstruct homes while they were there. 

New Orleans experienced a freeze that prevented Wynne and her group from working more, but they worked on other projects on the days they couldn’t go out. 

Wynne and the group swept and mopped the rooms they stayed in at Camp Hope.

“It felt like we were doing something productive because it was service for staying there” Wynne said. 

When the group was not working or at Camp Hope, they explored New Orleans and went on a cemetery tour. 

Wynne and her group were disappointed that they couldn’t help more, but Lucia DeCarvalho, a freshman who was also on the trip, kept a positive outlook when they couldn’t work on the houses. 

“Everything happens for a reason,” DeCarvalho said.

Wynne, as a peer facilitator on the trip, kept an optimistic mindset, which helped the group maintain a positive mindset as well. 

The CSSJ trips also work to help students spiritually.

Every night, the group would reflect on the work they had done, how they were helping and how to stay positive when they hit roadblocks. 

Wynne said that not everyone who went on this trip was religious, so the nightly reflections focused more on spiritual and physical aspects rather than focusing on the religious aspects of the trip. 

Wynne stayed connected with all her friends after the trip. 

The group stay in contact with each other, will occasionally meet for dinner and attend social events on the weekends. 

Although Wynne didn’t do a lot of work on this trip, she still felt the trip was a success.