March 1, 2024
Academy HUSTLE alumni Langston, Aaron, Jayden, and Jeffrey joined the Jackson-Reed High School Baseball team on a trip to the Dominican Republic, focused on growing the game of baseball and doing community service. While there, the group competed against top-tier local talent, facing off against six Dominican teams over the course of the week.
When they weren’t playing baseball, the young athletes participated in service projects including repainting the Casa de Luz orphanage and rebuilding the foundation of demolished houses in El Batey. The group also ran two youth clinics for local children where they donated baseball equipment to the community.
(L-R) Langston, Jeffrey, Jayden, and Aaron pose in front of a baseball field, team cheers each other on during a game, Athletes repaint rooms at the Casa de Luz children’s orphanage.
The group even had the opportunity to tour the Nationals Boca Chica Training Facility, where Latin American players train until called up to the minors. Nationals Academy alumni called the trip nothing short of “life-changing.” Jeffrey Myers, 2022 BASE graduate, said the highlight of the week was meeting the young Dominican children and seeing their passion and eagerness to learn the sport, even with the bare minimum tools to do so. It made him realize how fortunate he and his teammates are for the opportunities they’ve been afforded in the United States. Langston Speed, 2020 BASE graduate, shared that he learned so much about himself as well as the communities that exist beyond what he knows.
(Above) The group tours the Nationals Dominican Republic Facility.