Laying the Foundation: Detroit Students Build Two Schools in Senegal

Morgan Wiley almost didn’t go on Trek.

Her mom pushed her to say yes anyway. So when the temperature climbed into the 90s on the worksite in Mbafaye, Senegal, Morgan thought of her mom every time she felt like throwing her tools down and giving up.

“When things were hard, I thought about how excited my mom was for me to go on the trip,” Morgan says. “Even when I was unsure if I wanted to come, she kept pushing me to go. So when I was there, it felt like I was doing it for her.”

Morgan, a student at Renaissance High School, was one of twenty buildOn in Detroit students who spent July 14 through 24 building two schools in Senegal’s Diourbel region. Together, they lived and worked side-by-side with the communities the schools would transform, and in the process experienced transformations of their own.

What You’ll See in This Story

• Twenty Detroit students spend ten days building two schools in rural Senegal.
• The reasons students decided to step out of their comfort zones—and how the experience changed them for life.
• How mornings of mixing concrete and afternoons of cultural exchange add up to something bigger than a school.

Who Went on Trek?

Thanks to buildOn’s recent expansion into four new high schools in Detroit and funding from the State of Michigan, we were able to send two Trek teams to Senegal this summer, split across two villages: Mbafaye and Ndiadiane Sasseme.

Students representing six of Detroit’s seven partner high schools traveled together, alongside buildOn staff, a Detroit teacher, and Pershing High School Principal Bryant Tipton. One group was made up solely of Detroit students, while the second went with peers from buildOn in Chicago. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with masons and community members, they helped lay the foundation of each village’s first permanent school building.

Mornings of Concrete, Afternoons of Connection

The mornings were long. Students mixed concrete, hauled materials, and worked alongside local masons as the schools’ frames rose day by day.

But it wasn’t only about the walls going up.

Afternoons were set aside for something just as important: getting to know the community they were building alongside. Students learned to make couscous, took part in a traditional marriage ceremony, tried their hand at Senegalese wrestling, explored local farming practices, and sat down for honest conversations about gender roles and community life. At the end of the Trek, as is tradition for our Treks in Senegal, the students borrowed traditional Senegalese clothes from their host families to wear during the closing ceremony. 

For Kameron Hicks, president of the buildOn chapter at Renaissance High School, it was the kids in the village who made the days worth the heat.

“The kids in Senegal were very energetic, and they were very lively and lovely,” Kameron says. “Every time I passed by, they seemed excited to see me, and I was excited to see them right back. It made me want to keep working on the school. The energy was contagious.”

“Every time I passed by, [the kids] seemed excited to see me… It made me want to keep working on the school. The energy was contagious.”

Kameron Hicks, Renaissance High School Student

Why Trek?

For DeShawn Mitchell, a student at East English Village Preparatory Academy, the work became personal in a different way.

“When I was there and I saw all these beautiful people working, it gave me a lot of hope that the school was going to turn out amazing,” DeShawn says. “I worked as hard as I could to be part of the community, so that if I ever come back, they’ll remember me.”

“I worked as hard as I could to be part of the community.”

DeShawn Mitchell, East English Village Preparatory Academy Student

A Walk Through History

The Trek ended with a visit to Gorée Island, where students stood with the history of the transatlantic slave trade and reflected on the paths their own ancestors may once have walked.

It was heavy. It was also clarifying.

Students left with a deeper understanding of the world, a sharper appreciation for their own opportunities, and a renewed drive to create change back home.

What They’re Carrying Home

For Principal Tipton, the trip was never just about the school his students helped build.

“Traveling to Senegal with buildOn was more than a journey to help build a school,” Tipton says. “It was a life-changing experience that built connections, expanded my perspective, and reminded the students and me that when communities unite around education, we create opportunities that can transform generations.”

“[Trek] built connections, expanded my perspective, and reminded the students and me that when communities unite around education, we create opportunities that can transform generations.”

Bryant Tipton, Pershing High School Principal

Twenty students went to Senegal to build two schools. They came home having built something else, too: a clearer sense of what they’re capable of, and what it means to belong to a community bigger than their own—one that expands beyond city limits, state lines, and even international borders.

Ready to take the first step of your own Trek journey to build a school in one of our partner countries? Fill out the form on this page to get the process started.