ARISE Experience Calls Students Into Someone Else's Reality

by Isabelle Duley

Before I begin, I want to ask you all to imagine something: Imagine stepping into a place where almost everything you’ve heard about it comes from the news, from debates, or from conversations that feel far away from your own life. Now imagine that most of what you understood barely scratches the surface. 

This was me before my Mercy Immersion this past summer. Me, eight other Merion girls and two chaperones travelled to McAllen, Texas to ARISE Adelante for our Mercy Immersion. ARISE stands for A Resource In Serving Equality, and they work to empower low income communities in South Texas. They help people in the community with any issue they may have. This included the summer camp that we spent the week running.

When I first signed up, I didn’t know what exactly to expect. I knew we would learn about immigration, meet families, and work with community members. I knew it would be different from anything I’d done before. I thought I had some idea of what the experience would feel like. The truth is nothing could have prepared me for the shift in perspective I was going to have. 

One of the biggest lessons I learned on this immersion was the importance of stepping outside our comfort zones. It’s easy to stay where things feel familiar, our school, our community, our routines. But comfort can limit us. It can make us believe that we already know enough. ARISE pushed me, and all of us, to step into empathy. Into someone else’s reality. 

Every day in Texas offered a new perspective. We sat with families whose stories were woven with courage, fear, hope, and resilience. We went to the border where we walked along the tall, rusted metal barrier where people have lost their lives trying to cross. A local volunteer explained that migrants remove their shoelaces so they won’t trip as they run. Standing there, surrounded by abandoned laces and the National Guard in the distance, I learned something infinitely valuable. 

I learned that perspective cannot be gained by reading about it, but by living it. Right now, there are families torn apart, people denied due process, and communities targeted by racism. It is our job to show up for them by listening and letting someone else’s experience challenge what you thought you understood. This kind of growth requires discomfort. But discomfort is not something to avoid, it is something to embrace as your viewpoint expands. 

When the week was over and it was time to fly back home, there was not a dry eye in sight. Bella, Christina, Emma, Kinsley, Meghan, Nydia, Shayla, Emily, and I all learned a powerful lesson that week: The world can not be understood passively. Only through human connection, deep empathy, and a little discomfort can one challenge themselves to appreciate every perspective. 

ARISE is not just a service trip. It’s an invitation—to understand, to connect, and to see the world more honestly. You don’t just go to “help.” You go to learn, to witness, and to let real stories shape you.