The Spring Service Trip: Supporting and Serving the Community

The trip has run for about four years. From April 30 to May 3, around 14 Hopkins students in grades 9-12 will volunteer in New Haven at organizations such as Sunrise Cafe, the Yale Community Kitchen and Havenly. Alissa Davis, Anna Khoury, and Alvaro Cerqueira will supervise the attendees. Davis, an English teacher and director of community service, said she hopes “students emerge with a really rich understanding of food insecurity in New Haven.” Students come in with varied levels of service experience. Leila Abate ’27, who also attended last year but had limited prior experience, said the trip was “a great way to just get a look into community service at Hopkins.” 

The trip exposes students to both food insecurity and community service. “It really shows you the depth of food insecurity, especially in the greater New Haven area — I didn’t know it was that severe,” said Dide Arat ’27, a past attendee. For many students, food insecurity is not a widely understood or experienced issue. As Molly Calderone ’27 said, “When we talk about food insecurity in assemblies, it’s easy to be disconnected. Then you go on the trip, you start to understand that more — so empathizing more has definitely been a lesson.” 

Students don’t just learn about food insecurity; they experience working to address it. For Ripley Chance ’26, who went on the '23 and '25 trips, “being able to do hands-on work was something that I wasn’t as used to in community service and something that I really, really liked.” The experience gives students a different perspective on service. Raymond Zhang ’28, who attended last year, said, “After going on the trip, I came back with more appreciation for service work and volunteers who support their communities.” 

This impact often extends beyond the trip itself. Michael Batsu ’28, another past attendee, is tutoring children over the summer and said, “I think that the trip helped me prepare for that type of work.” Davis noted that witnessing real needs encourages deeper thinking: “It's not just, oh, we’re dipping our toe in — they’re thinking about what could be longer-term solutions.” She added, “I think as much as we try to do community service, it’s also about community building.” 

For many students, meeting new people is a major draw. Sidney Koo ’29, a first-time attendee, said, “I think that the trip might be a great way for me to get to know people in other grades.” Similarly, Arat explained, “I was trying to really meet new people, because it was my first year at Hopkins." Chance noted, “It’s really nice to be surrounded by other people that are very service-oriented.” She added, “Even though we came from different ages and different friend groups, we all kind of came together to support this bigger cause.” 

Beyond building a community among participants, the trip helps students connect with the broader New Haven community. As Calderone said, “a pro [of the trip] was being able to talk to so many people and...connect with the Connecticut community.” She noted handing out groceries as a favorite experience: “It was really nice to just be able to see all of those people come in and get what they need. That was just really rewarding."

The service trip is more accessible and connects students more directly with New Haven than the offered international trips. Davis said, “Sometimes students might spend four years here on the Hill and not actually go into our more surrounding neighborhoods." She added, “It’s important for Hopkins to be a part of New Haven, and the best way of doing that that I can find is getting our kids off campus and into it.” The affordability of the trip, due to its proximity to the school, makes the volunteering opportunity more accessible for students. 

Ultimately, the trip educates students about food insecurity and service. Davis noted that community service is often seen as a burden or a box to check, but added, “We really hope the trip feels like an experience that you'll just always have and always remember and be important in your life.” Chance said, “The main thing I would recommend it for is being surrounded by people that are really engaged. You share the central value of being able to help others.”

As Koo put it, “I’ll get to meet some new people, learn about food insecurity, and help out my community. I’m pretty excited about it.”