Every year, we ask our Student Service Program graduating seniors the same question once their service-learning trip wraps up: What will you take with you?
Their answers are never just about the trip. They’re about who they’re becoming.
This year’s Student Service Program cohort just returned from their service-learning trip to San Juan, including time spent volunteering alongside the team at Pa’Ti Mar. When we sat down with the students to hear their final takeaways (not just from the trip, but from their full two years in the program), what came back wasn’t a list of activities completed. It was a group of young people who can name, in their own words, how service changed the way they see themselves, their communities, and each other.
That’s the whole point of the Student Service Program. And it’s why, 20 years into this work, we believe the long-term impact of the Ryan Nece Foundation isn’t measured only in service hours logged or schools served: It’s measured in students like these:
They’re Learning That Service Is a Skill, Not Just an Act
For Matvii, the trip reinforced something he’d already started to notice through the Student Service Program: Different communities, different zip codes, different circumstances, and yet so much overlap in what people actually need. He saw firsthand at Pa’Ti Mar how easy it is to build a service initiative around something you’re already passionate about, and he’s carrying that blueprint forward.
Ayanna echoed that same thread. What stuck with her wasn’t a single project, but watching people, like Louis from Para la Naturaleza, and the staff working alongside him, live out their passions through service. She said the Student Service Program made her more productive and taught her real time management skills.
Claire put it simply: Service is accessible. It doesn’t require a perfect plan or a grand gesture. It requires showing up. After two years of trips and projects, she says she feels more selfless, not because she’s been told to be, but because she’s practiced it.
They’re Rethinking Who They Are
Some of the most powerful takeaways weren’t about what the students did, but they were about who they discovered they could be.
Juliette said serving others helped her feel good about who she is, not someone who only thinks about herself, but someone who shows up for other people. Her time learning from and serving with Pa’Ti Mar stuck with her in a way she didn’t expect.
Malia walked away with a similar realization, framed through the people she met: A small time commitment can change someone’s day. Watching the kids they served, she kept coming back to one idea: We’re the same, just with different resources. That single sentence might be the clearest articulation of empathy we’ve heard from a student in years.
Kate said something we hear often but never get tired of hearing: People are generally good more than they are bad. She also noticed something practical: Her Student Service Program class got more done, faster, because they became fast friends. Community doesn’t just feel good. It works better.
They’re Building Leadership Skills They’ll Use for the Rest of Their Lives
Jack rediscovered something personal on this trip: A love for agriculture he didn’t expect to reconnect with. He’s also walking away wanting to travel back to Puerto Rico again, and crediting the Student Service Program with giving him the public speaking skills and the confidence to actually share his opinion out loud. That’s not a small thing for a teenager. That’s a skill that will follow him into college, job interviews, and every room he walks into for the next decade.
Mary Grace highlighted the sheer variety the Student Service Program exposed her to: Different types of service, paired with real mentorship. She loved her mentor specifically, and noticed, like several of her peers, how similar different places and people can be underneath the surface. Her takeaway has a deadline attached to it: She’s committing to dedicating a vacation day to service, every year, going forward. WOW!
Ava said the Student Service Program helped her learn more about her own community, not someone else’s, hers. And she was honest that being part of a smaller group made the whole experience feel more personal. Sometimes the most meaningful version of servant leadership starts with feeling truly known by the people doing the serving alongside you.
This Is the Long-Term Impact
None of these students only mentioned the service-learning trip when we asked what they’d take with them. They said public speaking. Time management. Empathy. Confidence. Community. Perspective.
That’s the difference between a service-learning project and a servant leadership program. A project ends when the bags are packed. What Jack, Kate, Claire, Juliette, Matvii, Ayanna, Malia, Mary Grace, and Ava are carrying home will show up in how they lead group projects next semester, how they treat people who have less than they do, and how they show up for their own communities for the rest of their lives.
For 20 years, the Ryan Nece Foundation has worked from a simple belief: If you give young people real opportunities to serve, lead, and reflect, they don’t just become better students. They become better people, and eventually, better leaders for all of us.
These nine students are proof that it’s working.
Want to support the next class of Student Service Program students and experiences like the San Juan service-learning trip? Please email CEO Melissa Neeley, [email protected] to get involved and/or make a donation today.
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San Juan Service-Learning Trip: Day 1 Recap
San Juan Service-Learning Trip: Day 2 Recap
