Above: History teacher Elliott Dial, a faculty chaperone on an Alvord Center trip to the Dominican Republic, poses with two of his new friends at the home construction site — a young member of the family that would move into the new house and a local boy who was learning artisan skills from the masons on the job site. Far right: Eisuke Tanioke, a member of Loomis Chaffee's varsity baseball team, plays ball with community members in the Dominican Republic.
Scholars and Kravis Scholars programs. Kravis Scholars, students with leadership and academic potential who are from culturally, geographically, and ethnically under-represented backgrounds, receive financial, academic, and mentoring support while at Loomis. In addition, travel expenses to join an Alvord Center-sponsored international travel program is included in their scholarships. Senior Nancy Coulverson, a Kravis Scholar, traveled to South Africa on a trip organized by the Alvord Center in June 2015. There, Loomis students met with young South Africans of the Kliptown Youth Project (KYP), an organization seeking to provide educational opportunities and end poverty in their township, and joined in a traditional barbecue.
Loomis students help to build a house for a family in the Dominican Republic, a "learning service" aspect of the Alvord Center's international education program.
Anh Nguyen, Margo Rybeck, Rachel Walsh, and Sasha Mesmain take pictures with the matriarch of the family moving into the house that students built with the organization Cambiando Vidas in the Dominican Republic.
“We saw one of 50 water taps that the 50,000 people in the town use and learned about the uses and the good quality of the water,” wrote Nancy in a student blog post about the journey. “After helping [prepare the barbecue] we got time to mingle with the KYP kids. We played soccer, taught each other dances, and even exchanged www.loomischaffee.org | 31