I often feel like opportunities like these in school are less about doing good and more about being able to show off that you have done something good for other people. Regardless of whether someone does something like this for personal reasons or not, every time I see things like this in media or the news, it feels like I'm being told I can't be as good of a person as the people who do these trips are. Like I can't help people and benefit the world without going to extremes like leaving the country for a while to build a school or something, which is unrealistic for many people. It overshadows all the other ways you can help improve the lives of others from home, making it harder to figure out how and making the efforts seem less important. It's good to do projects that help people like these, but the focus, at least from an outside perspective, definitely seems to be more on what it can do for you rather than what you can do to help others. I think it's a great idea to involve students in projects to better their communities, but there should be many different projects, not just one large one, with tasks and goals that all students can realistically do.

I really like this simile. It is often encouraged to do things that will look good on a resume because they will look good on a resume and not because you will enjoy them or they will benefit your growth. Sometimes adding something to a resume does feel like adding another sticker to it to make it look fancier and more eye-catching, without having really gained anything for yourself along the way.