Students at Salesian High School built a cardboard box city to sleep outside Friday in an effort to raise awareness of homelessness.

Brother Craig Spence says the lesson teaches empathy to the students.

The students seemed enthusiastic for the project, telling News 12 that despite the cold and discomfort they expected to experience for one night, some people live in worse conditions.

"When you go home and you sleep on your bed, nice and warm, and you have a full meal -- there's a lot of people out there that don't have that," says Mathew Bruno, a student from New Rochelle.

"There's always people in need," adds classmate Hector Cruz, also from New Rochelle. "There's so many opportunities to give to those people, through soup kitchens and donations to different charities and things like that."