On September 20th, the world witnessed the Category 4 Hurricane, Maria, veer straight toward the island of Puerto Rico. Since the devastating event, Puerto Rico has been without power, and has struggled to provide food and water to its people.

“This is a humanitarian disaster involving 3.4 million United States citizens,” says Puerto Rico Government Ricardo soon after the storm hit. Along with having a great impact on the people living on this island, Hurricane Maria has also affected people here in Weedsport. The planned student trip to Puerto Rico this coming summer has been cancelled because of the uncertainty of what the state of Puerto Rico would be during this class trip.

Weedsport Foreign Language Instruct Mrs. Sanzotta was planning the trip, and recently took some time to discuss the devastation in Puerto Rico with The Johnny Green.

I first asked her how she learned about Puerto Rico’s most recent hurricane, and how she felt about it. She responded by saying that she watched the news and found out about the hurricanes, and kept herself updated to find out about the damage. She told me that she felt horrible because she really wanted to take her students to this country, because she had never even been there herself. Mrs. Sanzotta described her feelings and her intense urge to do something to help the citizens of Puerto Rico.

I went on to ask her about the time she had to take to plan for the trip. She told me that she began planning the trip immediately after Mrs.Matson asked her to lead the summer trip last year.

Another question I asked her was when was the moment she finally decided to cancel the trip, and she responded by saying she decided right after Hurricane Maria decimated the island. She told me she was concerned for the students who had already paid for the trip, and she went on to say that there is not another trip planned for this summer, mainly because going to another country means needing passports, and it wouldn’t be ideal for taking a trip as early as this summer.

The foreign language department is conducting a fund raiser to help those Puerto Rican citizens impacted by the hurricane. Stop by any of their classrooms before this Friday to donate to this worthy cause!