Back for Year Three: Breck Students Return to Homeward Bound
September 16, 2026
A weekly service partnership has grown into lasting relationships, new experiences and a shared commitment to community.
Every Wednesday during the school year, something a little different happens at Homeward Bound.
A group of students from Breck School arrives at Medicine Lake or Webster for an hour of community partnership service. What began during the 2024–2025 school year is now entering its third year, and we could not be more excited to welcome Breck students back to Homeward Bound for 2026–2027.
This year, students Alexis, Adelaide, Elsa, Nicola, Lucinda and Emmy will spend their hour of weekly community engagement on Wednesdays, learning alongside our residents and staff, bringing their own ideas and interests to a partnership that has continued to grow each year.
Three Years of Showing Up
The best way to understand this partnership may be to look back at how much has happened in just three school years.
Over those years, students and residents have done a little bit of everything together.
Pumpkin carving has become a favorite, but the list also includes adaptive seasonal crafts, leaf prints, outdoor sensory exploration, clay creations for our homes and community garden, neighborhood walks, karaoke, hand turkeys, Valentine’s Day projects and more.
Last year, students even helped create special superhero cards recognizing our Direct Support Professionals. Students have also invited residents to their own sporting and theater events.
Those moments are what make this partnership special. The students aren’t handed a year-long checklist of volunteer tasks. Each week evolves through collaboration.
Once students get to know residents, their ideas become increasingly personal. They learn what someone enjoys, what they don’t, what gets a reaction, what makes someone laugh and how different people prefer to participate.
And then they come back the next Wednesday with another idea.
Returning Because It Matters
Two members of this year’s group already know those Wednesdays well.
Alexis and Adelaide are returning for their senior year after participating in the partnership last year, following in the footsteps of Breck alum Malia, who also chose Homeward Bound for two consecutive years before graduating in 2026 and heading to Penn State University.
At our kickoff for the 2026–2027 school year, Alexis and Adelaide found themselves in a role that has never been formally defined within the partnership: student leaders.
As they shared their experience with the newest members of the group, their pride in what they had built here was clear. They spoke about coming into the experience already considering themselves social and comfortable connecting with others, only to discover how much there was still to learn.
No disability looks exactly the same. Neither does communication, participation or connection.
A year of Wednesdays gave them greater confidence in getting to know residents, understanding different ways of communicating and finding ways to connect with each person as an individual. Now, that experience allows them to help new students feel more comfortable doing the same.
It is a role they stepped into naturally. They can answer questions, share what they have learned, model engagement and help their peers understand that they have real ownership over what this year can become.
That leadership was never assigned. It grew out of experience, relationships and a genuine desire to come back.
Recognizing a Partnership That Has Grown
That commitment was also celebrated this summer when Breck School was named Homeward Bound’s 2026 Service Partner of the Year at our 30th Anniversary Golf Classic & Gala.
Alexis attended the event and accepted the award on behalf of Breck’s service group. Adelaide, who was also part of the group being represented, was unable to attend.
For Homeward Bound, the recognition wasn’t about one project or one Wednesday. It celebrated the consistency behind the partnership and the relationships that have been built because students continue to show up.
Starting a New Year Together
Before this year’s weekly visits begin, Development Coordinator Terrina White and Director of Partnerships Kristine Morin met with the students and Breck faculty members Gretchen Scherer and Coreena Affleck on campus to launch the new school year.
The conversation covered Homeward Bound, the people we support, what students can expect when they arrive at our homes and what community partnership looks like here.
But most importantly, everyone started planning together. Students were asked to think about their strengths, areas where they would like to grow, what they are excited to experience and why they selected Homeward Bound as their service site.
Their answers gave us plenty to look forward to.
Students talked about wanting experience working with different communities and people with different disabilities. They talked about continuing to learn, building relationships and becoming more comfortable in unfamiliar situations.
A few are interested in careers in the medical field, opening another opportunity for Homeward Bound to connect students with staff, student DSPs and professionals whose careers are built around supporting people with disabilities.
Most of all, there was genuine excitement to get started.
More Than a Volunteer Assignment
One of the things students have consistently identified as different about this partnership is the amount of ownership they have over their experience. There isn’t one activity repeated every Wednesday. Students help decide what comes next. They brainstorm. They plan. They adapt. They learn what residents enjoy. They bring ideas back to the group. And our residents and staff help shape where those ideas go.
That freedom has allowed the partnership to become something much more natural than completing required service hours. It has become relationship and character building while making a positive impact in the lives of others.
For Terrina, a Breck Class of 2018 alum, watching that happen carries another layer of meaning.
“It really is a full-circle moment. When I graduated from Breck as lifer, I definitely didn’t have sitting on the other side of this service tradition on my vision board. Now I get to bring two parts of my life that mean so much to me together, it’s deeply nostalgic as many of the faculty and staff that I admired and built such strong relationships with are still teaching today.
Breck and Homeward Bound both place an incredible amount of value on community. At Homeward Bound, you’ll hear residents and staff refer to a house as their home and the people around them as family. That feeling isn’t something you can force. It’s created by how people show up for one another every single day, something every Mustang (school mascot) has been taught from day one at Breck.
Watching these students become part of that, and then seeing students choose to return, is an honor.”
— Terrina White, Development Coordinator and Breck Class of 2018
It Takes a Home to Make This Possible
There is another group that deserves an enormous amount of credit for making every Wednesday work: our Homeward Bound staff.
Our Operational Administrators, Program Managers, Direct Support Professionals, nurses and other team members are the people welcoming students through the door.
They help students understand how best to engage with each resident. They answer questions. They participate. They encourage ideas. And, perhaps most importantly, they create an environment where both residents and students can become comfortable with one another.
Those everyday interactions are part of what building community looks like at Homeward Bound. Our houses are people’s homes. Welcoming someone new into that space and giving a relationship time to develop requires staff who understand the value of opening that door.
We’re grateful they do.
So, What’s on the Calendar This Year?
That’s part of the fun: we don’t entirely know yet. We will start the year by installing a Free Little Library at our Medicine Lake home, a project the students will lead from design through installation.
There will undoubtedly be crafts, celebrations, outings, and plenty of Wednesday ideas we haven’t thought of yet.
But this year also arrives at an exciting time for Homeward Bound. With our Adventure Club now in full swing and a larger Breck group ready to get involved, there are even more possibilities for experiences that bring residents, students and our broader community together.
If the first two years have taught us anything, it’s that some of the best ideas will come directly from the students and residents themselves.
We can’t wait to see what they come up with.
Find Your Place at Homeward Bound
Breck’s Community Partnership is one example of what volunteering at Homeward Bound can become.
We welcome students, schools, corporate teams, community organizations and individuals completing volunteer or service hours to connect with us.
Whether you have one afternoon, an idea for a project or you’re interested in building an ongoing partnership, there are opportunities to connect, engage and grow alongside our residents.
Interested in becoming a volunteer partner?
Contact Kristine Morin, Director of Partnerships, at kmorin@hbimn.org to begin the conversation or join our volunteer list to hear about upcoming opportunities.
