Between 27 November and 5 December, VSP welcomed twelve Year 10 students from Firbank Grammar School in Melbourne for a Community Service trip. The group spent four of their ten days secluded in the mountains of Chiang Dao to continue work on a school in Baan Mae Mae that previous schools visiting with VSP have visited.
A few of the girls had been to the Traidhos campus the previous year with their school’s Year 9 trip and opted to return to Thailand rather than participating in one of the other excursions that the school organized for Year 10s.
The service project required the girls to dig out and cement an open water drain, as well as creating two notice boards and interacting with the students in their classrooms. The girls worked very efficiently, leaving them with extra time, in which they built a retaining wall to reduce the runoff of mud and debris into the newly made drains.
During their project the group stayed in the Tree House Hideaway – a jungle resort with stunning views overlooking the valley bellow and the surrounding mountains.
Either side of the service days, the girls took part in the usual activities VSP offers, such as Thai Cooking and Elephant Nature Park as well as the popular Art in Paradise 3D Museum in Chiang Mai. On the final night the group enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Ping River which was a fitting ending to an incredible trip.