The Ethel Walker School
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Blog: Habitat for Humanity Trip 2025
Walker’s is back in Seguin, Texas for another week with Guadalupe Valley Habitat for Humanity! Each March, a group of our students spends spring break building affordable homes for deserving families in the area. Check back each day for quick updates about their trip!
Day 1
Today was a very eventful day. We woke up bright and early at 3:00 a.m. to head off to the airport! Our first flight to Baltimore was only an hour and our second flight to San Antonio was around four hours. On our way to the church [where we stay], we stopped at Whataburger for a fun lunch, and then arrived at the church and started cleaning and setting up our areas. Shortly after, we made it to Walmart to pick up food and cleaning supplies for the week! We then ended the night with a fun chicken tender dinner and a game of Happy Family for all!
—Lily, Ava, and Paula
Day 2
Most of us woke up around 7:00-8:00 a.m. Today wasn’t a work day — instead we started the day off with breakfast and a card game called Rumy! At around 10:25 a.m. we started our journey to THE CAVERN!!!!
The group explored the caverns for an hour. We learned about formations like stalagmites, dripstones, soda straws, and ribbons. After our adventures, we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. We restocked on some items at Walmart, then went back to the church to rest and recharge.
To end the night after dinner we played the most EPIC game of Man Hunt!!
—Eaden and Marlo
Day 3
Today was the first day of volunteer work at Habitat! After learning about Habitat’s mission and the family we were helping, we spent the day helping nail siding, paint the exterior, and caulk the house!
After working, we had some homemade tacos — which were delicious — before heading to Gruene to get some two-step dance lessons and walk around town. The weather was perfect and the sun was out the whole time!
It was a 10/10 day in Texas!
—Nellie and Ava
Day 4
We woke up bright and early for our first landscaping day in San Antonio! It was a super hot day with the average temperature being mid 80s. We worked on digging holes for future Habitat homes so trees can be planted there. After that, we had pizza for lunch and tidied up the inside of a few homes. We were also greeted by the cutest puppies ever! On our way back to Seguin, we stopped by an ice cream place and it was delicious! We had a quick turnaround to explore the local amusement park, ZDT! To end off the day, we had a yummy breakfast for dinner and played a feisty game of Scum and Man Hunt.
—Sammi and Paula
Day 5
Today we had a fun-packed day, starting off this morning at the worksite painting and installing shelving, then we had a delicious sandwich lunch break to end the work day. We then headed back to the church to rinse off and head to Walmart for a quick restock of some food. Shortly after, we ate a nice pasta dinner made by Sammi and Nellie. To end off the night, we headed to the local movie theater to see the Captain America: Brave New World movie!
—Lily and Maya
Day 6
This morning we got up and got ready to lay sod! After finishing a day’s worth of work in just a few hours, we got back to the church early to change and eat before going tubing. We spent a few hours on the Comal River having fun floating around and braving the rapids! After all the time spent in the sun we made a quick stop at Tipsy Cow and enjoyed some well-remembered ice cream. We ended our day with a chill evening at the church — Joon and Charlotte partnered up to make a delicious grilled cheese and tomato soup meal while others played cards!
—Joon and Liv
Day 7
Today was the last work day of the trip! We finished the shelving in the house closets and used the rest of the day to build a shed. We put up the walls, painted the exterior, and nailed down the shingles. After working we went and explored New Braunfels which had lots of cute local stores and coffee shops. On this last day we went out for dinner to Hacienda Tapatio which had the most delicious Mexican food! We ended the day by returning back to Tipsy Cow for ice cream and souvenir hoodies to remember the trip.
—Charlotte
Day 8
We woke up bright and early at 7:00 a.m. to start our last day in Texas! As soon as we woke up we started our deep clean of the church making sure to leave it spotless for the upcoming church service. Once that was done we left and headed off to San Antonio for a river boat tour. We got to see a bunch of cool spots along the river such as a concert venue on the river and a bridge that JLO filmed a movie on! After that we had a quick lunch at Rainforest Cafe so we could then head out on the road to the airport. Once we checked through security, we got snacks to prepare for our two flights. Our first flight to Chicago was around two hours and our flight from Chicago to Connecticut was also around two hours! We returned to Connecticut and had to say goodbye to everyone to end off our Habitat for Humanity 2025 spring break trip!
—Lily, Ava, and Paula