Two Lexington County educators traveled to Puerto Rico in January to help with Hurricane Maria recovery efforts.

Luke Clamp, principal of River Bluff High School, and Erica Page, assistant principal of Pelion High School, partnered with Life-touch Memory Mission and 45 other educators across North America to help rebuild a community school devastated by the storm.

Colegio Bautista in Juncos, PR, is home to 120 kindergarten through 9th grade students. The Chronicle had the chance to ask the educators about their experiences with the mission.

Q: What motivated you to want to help in PR?

A: Erica Page – In 2017 Hurricane Maria, a category 4 storm, devastated PR. Over 1,000 people lost their lives and since then, over 400,000 people have fled the island.

There are many schools that have closed, businesses that have been relocated, and the people of PR need help.

Help comes in many ways. I believe the power of servant leadership is the best way to give back a community and people in need. Money brings aid; but, people bring hope.

Hope is what I wanted to bring to the Puerto Ricans – and we did just that.

A: Luke Clamp – Service has always been a passion of mine and experiences previously in local mission trips created a desire to seek to join again.

The Lifetouch Memory Mission combined both educators and business professionals from their company in a joint effort to both serve and work alongside the people of Puerto Rico, specifically in the town of Juncos.

When I read about the school Colegio Bautista and learned of the connection to the Baptist Church there in Juncos, I was honored to have been chosen to participate, and my life truly was changed through the process.

Q: What challenges did you face while there?

A: Page – The biggest challenge for me was mentally preparing myself for this trip. Preparing myself for the work I would be doing, the conversations that I would have, and my interactions with the community members.

I had natural anxiety because I did not know the scope of the work we would be doing, how difficult the work would be, and I wanted to serve the Puerto Rican survivors to the best of my ability to make the greatest impact in their lives and community.

A: Clamp – The only challenges that really were extreme challenges were our language barriers as many of us on the trip did not speak Spanish very well.

The trip leaders and the students there were eager to support us by translating and even teaching us new words in Spanish.

We overcame the challenge and quickly began to speak a language of support and love. Two specific Puerto Rican contractors that worked with us the entire week called us “los hermanos,” or brothers.

Q: What did you gain from the experience?

A: Page – I gained a greater appreciation for what I have in South Carolina.

I’ve always believed that money or things do not bring happiness, and I really witnessed it in Puerto Rico. Whether it was in the classroom, at recess, working alongside students on our construction site, or visiting their families at home – the people were so happy and full of joy.

I was amazed that the students could play a great game of volleyball without a net, a soccer game without goals, and that they had a blast playing basketball on an uneven blacktop with a net that was not at regulation height.

Going into the experience I was afraid that the language barrier I would face would make it impossible to build relationships with the students; however, I quickly learned that – as humans – we all speak the language of love, laughter, and compassion. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to serve the community of Juncos in this capacity!

A: Clamp – The gains personally were immense, but the one that sticks out the most is the attitude of working alongside and the feeling of warmth and acceptance that the Puerto Rican people extended to us.

They truly were so gracious and extended such a hand of love to us, it elevated the work experience to one of pure joy.

While there were certain skills we learned like bricklaying and working with rebar, the looks on the students’ faces when we presented their photographs to them produced by the team at Lifetouch and the appreciation extended by the congregation of the church on Sunday at our celebration service are memories I’ll cherish forever.