The following is a firsthand account from Ethan Diamond ’20 after his trip to the De La Salle Blackfeet School in Browning, Montana.

Last week, I returned from my second Montana trip at the De La Salle Blackfeet school. These trips were truly amazing and unforgettable.

For those of you that don’t know, we travel to a fellow Lasallian school located on a Native American Reservation. While at the school, we choose a class to stick with the entire week, and help the kids and the teachers in any way necessary. It may be reading with them in the hallway, explaining math problems, or running a quick errand for the teacher if they need us to.

While all of that is important, the part that truly sticks with you is getting to know the kids in your class. Throughout daily interactions in and out of the classroom, you get to know more about them each day. This was especially important for me because it showed me how fortunate I am. When working with kids who live in a place where unemployment is through the roof, most of the town is living in poverty, and drug problems are prevalent, it shows you the other side of the coin, so to speak.

While I spend my time at a Catholic school worrying about which colleges I’ll get into, there are kids on the Blackfeet Reservation, much younger than me, worrying about where they are sleeping that night, or if their parents are going to have enough money to put warm food on the table. Things that many of us take for granted are a big deal on the Reservation. When asking the kids in my class where their favorite place to eat on the Reservation was, many of them don’t go out to eat, and the few that did only listed inexpensive fast food chains such as Taco John’s.

The trip is not all work though, as each group goes on hikes through Glacier National Park where there are breathtaking views that I will never forget. I would like to take a moment to stress the importance of going on a Christian service trip. Even if it is not the Montana trip specifically, this was a moment in my life I will never forget.

My last piece of advice is for all the underclassmen, and it comes from one of my only regrets while at CBA. Go on service trips early in your CBA career. I wish I had at least one more year of going on this trip, but I ultimately cannot because I am graduating.

St John Baptist De La Salle… Pray for us.
Live Jesus in our Hearts… Forever!