AMIGOs, an organization in its 43rd year, puts high school and college volunteers in Latin American countries to live with other volunteers in local “host families.” Volunteers improve their Spanish fluency and experience an entirely different culture from their own.

From the first day people met him, they knew immediately that he was going to be a friend they would never forget. “He wasn’t the most eloquent person, but he always gave good advice,” says senior Devon Hanna. “He always told me to have fun in life and it was because he was a really easy person to talk to that we connected really well.”