A Week in Arizona

A group of midshipmen from the Midshipman Action Group is in Tuscon, Arizona this for spring break, helping the Pascua Yaqui Tribe's Boys and Girls Club with a variety of projects. 

March 15: We spent the morning with our hosts hiking about 7 miles. After our hike we checked into the Boys and Girls Club and got settled. We headed to Gates Pass to view the sunset then headed back to the Holmes Tuttle BGC for the night. Everyone was super excited to meet the kids.

March 16: We woke up at 0630 to cook breakfast for everyone. We then headed off to the Pascua Yaqui Boys and Girls Club at 0900. For the first hour we helped organize the clubhouse and clean their refrigerator. The kids started to arrive and we naturally split up into smaller groups. One group helped organize the library and the others played pool with the kids. They were amazing! We spent a lot of time outside playing basketball and enjoying the warm weather. The club itself is quite small and there isn't any room to run around. At the end of the day we decided to play a massive Capture the Flag game that got everyone involved. It was pretty intense. We headed back to the Holmes Tuttle BGC for dinner and hanging out. 

March 17: We spent the morning exploring downtown Tucson and the University of Arizona. Afterwards, we went back to the Boys and Girls Club to continue to play with the kids. They love playing pool and being outside.

March 18: We started a garden for the Boys and Girls Club. There had been a garden about 2-3 years prior but everything had been dried up so we had to start over by digging out land, putting in soil and plants, adding a fence, and figuring out the irrigation system. In the afternoon we went to the park to play field games with the kids. We noticed they lacked some equipment so we stopped at Walmart to pick up some toys. Our group is bonding extremely well and having a great time. During the evening, the entire group went out to an authentic Mexican restaurant. 

March 19: We went back to the Boys and Girls Club to finish our garden. We played a 5-on-5 basketball game with the kids and lost. We were given a tour of their home and talked about their life, social issues, and their future. We advocated for the Naval Academy and suggested looking into enlistment as well. The Boys and Girls Club was very generous and treated us to lunch.