Helping others. A phrase that can stand for something as simple as a lemonade stand for the red cross or as powerful as building schools in a third world country. No matter who or what it is that needs help Alyssa Cockerline, senior, is the first to rise to the challenge.

It all started during hurricane Katrina when Cockerline built stress balls out of sand and rubber bands to sell them in order to raise money for the hurricane victims. Sarah Cockerline, Alyssa’s mom, always knew giving back is something Cockerline had a passion for. Two years ago Cockerline decided she wanted to travel to another country to mission work. She would spend hours researching places to go and once she found Nicaragua she knew she found the right place.

“Her dad and I were excited she found a good safe place to go to help the less fortunate,” Sarah said.

This year Cockerline took her second trip to Nicaragua to do mission work and to visit a five year old girl named Katherine who she adopted and supports financially. They send pictures and gifts to each other and Cockerline often writes letters to her.

“It was overwhelming how excited I was to see her, she’s such a sweet girl,” Cockerline said.

Katherine and Cockerline spent a day speaking spanish with each other and swinging at the play ground.Cockerline traveled five hours to Nicaragua with no one she knew but became very close with the members of the mission trip.

“Alyssa was the youngest on the trip but she was such a blessing to me in seeing how she loved on the kids,” Amy Fuquay, said.

Apart from spending time with Katherine she played games with kids in an orphanage that supported around 30 kids. Cockerline ran with a girl who was her age every morning and had a great bonding experience.

“The kids [at the orphanage] are so amazing because they don’t get a lot of attention but they were always so grateful and happy,” Cockerline said.

Cockerline’s mission group took the kids to water parks, they went go-carting, played soccer together, and they brought them to churches so they could help other people in need.

After spending a few days at the orphanage the mission group helped fix and paint a school. They painted the walls and front door and fixed the water tower so the school could and town could have running water. The school is funded solely on outside supporters, like Cockerline, who pay for the kids to go to school.
She not only worked with kids on the trip, she helped women get out of prostitution. An organization called the House of Hope takes prostitues in to make crafts and other small projects to help the women feel they are capable of doing much more than prostitution. Prostitution is the number one job for women in Nicaragua and this organization is a huge help to those women.

Cockerline spent a week doing everything she could to help those around her and loved every minute of it.

“I go on mission trips to help serve others, but I am always astonished by how much I am served by those people,” Cockerline said.