School leaders to go on Dominican mission trip
Evergreen School District Superintendent Laurie Barron and Columbia Falls Junior High School Principal Dave Wick were delighted to get a second chance at building a school in the Dominican Republic on a Lifetouch Memory Mission.
Both Barron and Wick had been given the opportunity to go in past years, but life circumstances had prevented them from going.
The two are among 50 educators and Lifetouch staff selected around the nation and Canada to participate in the mission.
Lifetouch, a professional photography company, funds travel and lodging expenses while volunteers raise money to support the local economy in the communities they serve.
For Wick, completing this mission will be filled with emotion.
“I was supposed to go last year. I got to Atlanta and did the training. After the training that night I got a call: My sister had died,” Wick said. “She died very unexpectedly.”
The following morning, instead of flying to the Dominican Republic, he traveled to console family and grieve.
He left the money and supplies he had raised in care of another Lifetouch mission volunteer.
The organization Wick will represent — the National Association of Elementary School Principals — saved a spot for him to go this year.
“I’m going this time to complete the trip,” Wick said. “This time it’s probably more meaningful than it was before because of what I went through. The opportunity to complete this mission will be great.”
At the time Barron was chosen to go on a Lifetouch Memory Mission, she had accepted the superintendent position in Evergreen and moved from Georgia to Montana.
Between moving, starting a new position and learning about the district and community, she felt it wasn’t responsible to step away for a week, so she withdrew from the mission.
“Now that I’ve been here two and a half years, I felt it was OK to step away and do this work. I was pretty excited to be given a second chance,” Barron said. “And the irony that Dave and I got to go once before, then neither of us got to go — and now out of 28 educators in the whole United States, the two of us get to go.”
Barron, who will represent the American Association of School Administrators, said the Lifetouch Memory Mission will be a rewarding opportunity to grow as an educator and leader.
“I think probably for Dave and I both, when we spend every day working in public education — giving back and helping students and our communities — the opportunity to give back in a bigger sense is not just rewarding, but I think it will help us grow as leaders. I think it will help us continue to do a better job in our roles to participate in this,” Barron said.
On Jan. 18, Barron and Wick will travel more than 3,100 miles to Constanza in the Dominican Republic where they will build the first floor of an elementary school out of cinderblock, concrete and stucco in the rural, mountain community.
During that time they will have a live video chat with their students at home through Google Hangouts.
“We each have a 30-minute scheduled slot,” Barron said.
Barron and Wick will return to Montana Jan. 26.
Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.