Brought to Loyola High School about five years ago by Director of Community Service, Mr. Tom Zeko, an urban plunge is an intensive field trip of three- or two-day duration to Los Angeles' skid row, the largest concentration of homeless in the United States. Normally, a group of about 12 to 16 students, accompanied by two or three adults (faculty, staff or administrators), make the plunge. There have been about thirty such field trips so far. Every four to six weeks a group departs from Loyola on a Friday, travels by public transportation to skid row, an area of about ten square blocks in the shadows of the skyscrapers of downtown, and spends two nights at a shelter or at a parish that is a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. The group works at one of the three missions that give their all to care for the homeless---the Midnight Mission, Union Rescue Mission or the Los Angeles Mission. The group also gets a tour of the area led by a police officer. They sometimes visit other agencies in the city, in Hollywood for example, which has a high concentration of young homeless or Homeboy Industries, the company founded by Loyola alum, Fr Greg Boyle, S.J., to assist gang members find the straight and narrow path and stay on it. Sometimes the group has Loyola vans and goes out to distribute food directly to the homeless who shy away from the missions and shelters. Most who participate count the experience as one of the most memorable in their young, middle-aged or senior lives. Bottom line--the homeless in Los Angeles are far from forgotten. But Loyola believes the young people, especially those of privilege, need to have their consciousness raised on this issue. On this particular Plunge there were twelve students (one senior leader, one junior, and ten sophomores) and two faculty leaders. The group left on Friday, May 1st, after school and returned to campus late morning on Sunday. The images provide a look at this unique service opportunity.