WINTHROP -- Hunter Brownell of Winthrop was among a group of SUNY Oneonta students who spent a little over two weeks last month completing service projects and working with impoverished youth and families in Quito and Mindo, Ecuador as part of an upper-division Human Development and Family Studies course.

Brownell and the other students were involved in three service work projects: building a greenhouse for an elder-care facility; working with a preschool program developing activities and refurbishing a room into an activity room for future use; and working with the mayor of Mindo on a beautification project in a high-poverty district.

As part of their cultural immersion, Brownell and the other students took 20 hours of Spanish lessons and lived with an Ecuadorian family. In their free time, they were able to visit museums, tour communities, visit historical and ecological attractions, attend programs learning about food and the arts, and visit with indigenous populations, primarily Quichua.

Brownell is studying adolescence education social studies at SUNY Oneonta.