During spring break in 2026, Camas High School (CHS) students who went on the Courts for Kids trip spent a hot and humid week at La Escalereta in the Dominican Republic. Courts for Kids is an annual trip that CHS students and staff can sign up for, where they travel to a lower-income community to build a basketball court.
Next spring, Courts for Kids will be heading to Costa Rica.
Every student and staff member learns invaluable team-building skills and takes away lessons that stick with them forever.
CHS Spanish teacher Jessica Obradovic signed up for the trip at the last minute. She shared her struggles and highlights of her time in the Dominican Republic.
“The night we arrived, it started to flood. They had set us up to sleep in what they called their community center. They had air mattresses and mosquito nets set up for us and put a lot of effort into making this our space,” Obradovic said. “The flood was literally a river right through the building that got up to our knees in a short amount of time. At the last minute, the community decided to split us up into different homes in the community.”
Obradavic and other students shared their experience on assimilating to the Dominican Republic and how the environment was different from home.
“We had to take bucket baths. Sometimes we didn’t have water, sometimes our bath was using the same bucket that we had carried cement in rock all day long, and that was our bath for the night,” Obradovic said. “We all came away just realizing what community they had that doesn’t exist here. They enjoy every minuscule moment that we don’t even stop to notice here. So I think we all came away just really in awe of their community and their culture.”
“Asking questions to the locals helps me immerse myself and learn about the culture,” CHS senior Brandon Palma said. “You build relationships, and you get comfortable with these people, and you start kind of integrating with the community. It’s a beautiful process.”
“It was significantly different. The location we were in, La Escalereta, was a very cool little town, and one thing that was really different is that everyone is way more social,” CHS junior Lachlan Morris said. “All up and down the street there’s people sitting on their porches saying ‘hi,’ there’s a police station right in the center of the town with police officers going around to houses and people to check in with them.”
Even though the group struggled with a new culture and environment, they still had highlights that made their time spent in La Escalereta more than worth it.
“We all went to these waterfalls, and it was really nice because I remember getting into the water and not feeling any stress or anything,” Palma said. “Not having my phone was really amazing, very cleansing for my brain. So for that entire week it all built up to that just one moment when I was in the water.”
“We went on a really cool tour through these natural waterslides. It was a zipline course through the Dominican Republic, through the trees, and through the jungle. Afterwards, we descended into a river and we went through the natural water slides through this little ravine, it was a super cool experience,” Morris said. “It was a really fun experience getting to go through that and experience their forests and jungle.”
“Even if you didn’t know each other before the trip,” Obradovic said. “When you accomplish something, when you overcome so many of your own personal fears or challenges, when you put yourself out there for another group of people, and you work together to build something for them, that is going to last longer than your own lifetime.”
