Mission to Serve

Last summer, Assistant Principal Alicia Eichhorn walked in friendship with our international neighbors in Kenya. With her local church group, she aimed to strengthen and serve communities of the Maasai people, while empowering local leaders to identify solutions and take ownership of their progress.

“I was able to take care of not only the educational front, but also aspects of health care and clean water,” Eichhorn said. “We took many filters that were sent to local rotary clubs and had the opportunity to offer the potential of millions of gallons of clean water for a boys and girls school and other local communities.”

Her work focused on organizing schools to maximize every student’s potential and prepare students to learn, empower, achieve, and dream, she said.

“I feel very blessed to have the work opportunities that I do here,” Eichhorn said. “Taking that knowledge and pairing it with the heart, especially in a foreign country, I saw that people want the same things all across the world. They want access to shelter, access to good health care, access to clean water, and they want access to a strong education.”

Being a friend, encourager, learner, and humble servant of the Maasai impacted long term, sustainable, and transformative change for them, she said.

“The human want for more in the sense of equity really came into play throughout the trip,” Eichhorn said. “Where I would perceive the communities not having or having very little, it’s a beautiful paradox that the folks were very rich in spirit. The people were more beautiful than the landscape.”

After she saw the dehumanizing oppressive reality of poverty in Kenya, her own spirit was awakened to remain humble and grateful for the luxuries she has in her day to day life.  

“When I came back, I walked into the building and looking around I thought ‘this place is like the Taj Mahal’,” Eichhorn said. “I don’t know if the students are as enlightened in their hearts when they walk into the building of this size.”

She said she realized the availability of education is a gift that could lay the foundation for a person’s future.

“Our students have fantastic learning opportunities,” Eichhorn said. “I know on a surface level people are grateful for an education, but the fact that there’s an immediacy of electricity, an immediacy of technology, an active plumbing system, clean water, and a staff of 200 to 300 adults who are here to seek and gather opportunities to best their learning.”  

Here at school, students have the opportunity to take initiative to learn and embrace other cultures in their community, she said.

“Everyday is a great learning opportunity whether we are here on campus or whether we are networking through the community, there are always opportunities to better our surroundings and better our environment,”  Eichhorn said.

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