12 hours of team bonding, 20 questions, and pump up music later, we arrived in North Carolina! Everyone here is so friendly and kind. For me, yesterday was an exercise in being gumby and in trusting the process. Our vans were quite packed (one might even say cramped), and we were driving for 12 hours in the rain. However, we all kept a positive attitude and turned the experience into a great bonding time. I was also so nervous the night before because I knew I would be driving for a large portion of the trip. I have an almost maternal attitude towards everyone in ASB. I want so badly for everyone to have a safe, meaningful, affirming experience. While the first toll I went through was a little panic-inducing, and the Jersey-girl I am struggled with pumping gas (shout out to our friendly neighborhood Zack for swooping in and saving the day), everything else went smoothly! I even took the lead for the second leg of our journey. ASB is all about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. Yesterday reminded me to trust that process this week and to trust in my team to be there to help me when I run into roadblocks, both literally and figuratively. I can’t wait to see where this week takes us!
Getting ready for PlayWorks!
It’s a strange feeling to be sitting here, writing my last pre-trip ASB blog post. This will be my fourth, and last, Lafayette ASB trip. I remember being so nervous before my first trip and not fully understanding what I was getting myself into. I certainly did not expect to become so deeply involved in ASB. Three years later, I feel much more prepared and excited for this trip. I think our team has formed strong bonds with each other already, which we will need for this week. We have discussed causes of childhood obesity at great length and have come to understand that this is a social issue, not just an individual health issue. Our education the past few months will put our service in a new, more informed context.
I am very much looking forward to the coming week. As intern, I have been working since last April to help plan these trips start to finish. While my experience on Executive Board has given me a new appreciation for the work needed to make these trips a reality and helped me develop valuable skills that I can apply to multiple areas of my life, I think sometimes I lose sight of why we work so hard to put these trips together. In the midst of reserving vans and compiling housing information, it’s hard to remember the mission and vision of our club. Finally going on this trip will be meaningful not only because I’ll experience the end result of all our planning, but also because I think it will help me remember my values and why I wanted to devote so much of my college career to ASB in the first place.
Daily Updates and some Musings
Team Chicago started off the day with an awesome exercise with Adventure Stage Chicago. Adventure Stage Chicago is an organization that runs theater workshops for local schools. They also work with pre-teens from the city to discuss their life stories through the arts. A professional playwright uses their stories as an inspiration for a full production that is put on for the entire community. Representatives from Adventure Stage Chicago ran a theater workshop for us that focused on thinking creatively and bringing stories to life. We became closer as a team and agreed that these types of activities are especially important for inner-city middle-school students because they face a lot of peer pressure at that age and are still trying to define themselves. It’s important for them to have the chance to develop themselves and express their stories through art.
In the afternoon, we visited Rowe Elementary School, a relatively young charter school for kindergarten through sixth graders. Their three core values are pride, success, and honor. We were impressed by the strictness and academic rigor of the school. The school emphasizes college graduation from a young age. Each classroom is named after a university and each class is referred to by their future college graduation year (ex. Class of 2030). The students took us on a tour of the school and we were allowed to observe classes. Many of the students have ambitious goals, such as going to Harvard and then studying law. Later, we discussed the pros and cons of exposing very young children to college. Some of us thought that it was important to talk about college at a young age for these children because most of them will be the first in their families to attend college, and they will not be able to rely on their parents to guide them through the process. They might also face more difficult challenges in the future, such as pressure to join a gang, and it could be important to have them develop goals at a young age so that they aren’t deterred by negative influences. However, many of us also thought the school was over-exposing the students to college, and that starting at such a young age could put too much pressure on them.
Our last activity was going back to Northwestern Settlement and speaking with the director of group services there, Mr. Alatorre. He gave us an overview of the settlement house’s history. The settlement house has a history of serving immigrants. Initially, it served mostly eastern European immigrants. Over time, the area has become predominantly Hispanic, and Mr. Alatorre told us that currently there are many immigrants from Ecuador. We were all impressed by the dedication of the staff to the house and by the wide range of programs offered to neighbors of the community. After touring the house, we went to an Indian restaurant and had an awesome reflection while waiting for our food.
Today was very important for me. I’m beginning to appreciate more fully the value of education in service. Two years ago, I think I would have been frustrated that we weren’t doing more hands-on service, but now, I find myself really loving days like today. Because of the presentations we saw today and the discussions we’ve had with our team leader, I feel so much more prepared for our direct service tomorrow. I understand it’s important to talk to the younger kids about our college experiences, because most of them won’t have family members who went to college. I also understand that some of the high school students we’ll be working with might not welcome us warmly. While I hope that this won’t be too much of a problem, I’m beginning to understand why it might. Our group talked a lot about how it might feel to have volunteers come into your school and try to help you and why we might meet some resistance. Before today, I wouldn’t have even thought this would be a problem. It’s clear that the past two days of education will have important effects on our next days of service, but I think it will have even more important effects on us after this trip has ended.
The past year, I have thought a lot about how much of an impact ASB trips have on the communities we serve and on the students who participate. The most common criticism of programs like ASB is that they are only a week long, and that’s not enough time to have any major, lasting impact. In a way, this is true. While I hope that our interactions with the students this week will inspire them to pursue higher education and to set their goals high, and while I believe the smallest of actions can have consequences beyond our knowledge or even imagination, we are not going to solve any social injustice in a week. It takes lots of time and commitment to an organization to impact it in a major way, as we heard from the people at the settlement house. Because of this, some people might question whether our time and financial resources would be better spent on long-term projects, or if we should just donate the money we spend on trips instead. As president of ASB, I probably shouldn’t be admitting this, but I have had my doubts. However, I have spent a lot of time thinking and reflecting the past few months, and the past few days in particular, and here is what I have to say:
Our mission as an organization is not to change the world in a week. Our mission is to create positive change and foster passion for civic engagement among Lafayette’s student body. To use Landis terminology, we want to move students along the active citizenship continuum, so that one day we may all be active citizens. Being an active citizen isn’t just about doing hands-on service on a regular basis – it’s about taking what you’ve learned and applying it to your daily life. It’s about questioning why our service is necessary, what the root causes of social issues are, and how we can best address those causes. It’s also about trying to find answers to those questions through critical thinking. We’re not going to solve the problems that ail Chicago’s education system this week. But when I start to have thoughts like this, I like to remind myself of the poem “The Long View” by Oscar Romero. My favorite lines are as follows:
“We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.”
This perfectly sums up what we are doing this week. Some people in our group have studied education before and want to become teachers. Others did not know what a charter school was before we discussed it during pre-trip meetings. No matter what our background is, though, we are all being challenged by our experiences this week. I see it in the questions the team asks during activities, in our amazing and insightful two-hour reflections, and in the discussions people strike up when we’re on the train or sitting in our hostel room. Seeds are being planted in us, just as we hope to plant seeds in the students we’ll work with this week. And when we return to campus, we will work to water those seeds within us and to plant seeds in our peers. It could be something as simple as reading an article about Easton’s school budgets in the newspaper each week, or researching a candidate’s views on education before voting. It could be speaking up when we hear others talking about why the arts aren’t important in our schools, or volunteering to tutor at the local Boys and Girls Club. It’s these small changes to our daily life styles that can cause lasting change. Not everyone on our team is going to study or pursue a career in education, but that does not mean we cannot contribute to education reform. Another thing that I absolutely love about ASB is that you can take the skills you learn here and apply them to any other area of your life. For example, some people on our team want to go into medicine. Hopefully, if they do, they will think about the communities they’ll work in, about how income inequality and poor education can contribute to health. This can better inform them as to how to work with patients to improve health. The kind of critical thinking skills and social awareness we develop on these trips can help us to become active citizens in other fields. This is why I am so passionate about ASB and our social change models and why I believe that experiences like this are so important.
The Adventure Begins!
Team Chicago is waiting to take off! I’m very excited to work with Northwestern Settlement, but also a little nervous. I think it will be enriching to see how education systems in different areas function differently, but also face similar challengers. My ASB trip last year focused on education in Newark, and my MOSAIC team last year also focused on education in Easton, so I’m excited to continue delving deeper into education reform. I hope I can hear from Chicago teachers about their experiences in the school system there and talk about the pros and cons of charter schools. Here’s hoping to a great week!
Newark – last day of service! :(
So today was our last day of service here in Newark! It started off on an exciting note because the team that usually stays at the Girls and Boys Club was able to go to the United Way of Essex and West Hudson headquarters in the morning. Most of us sorted clothing donations for an outdoor market tomorrow but I went with two other people to clean out the parking lot for the market. It was nice to get out of the Club for a little bit and work on different service projects in the morning. It was also great to see how much effort people put into sorting clothing for the market. One of the things that has been stressed to me in life is service with respect, meaning that the people we work with deserve the opportunity to shop for clothes that have been sorted and organized to make it easier to find articles of clothing. In the afternoon, we came back to the Boys and Girls Club and worked with the children one last time. It was great to see how many children remembered us and ran up to us. We had a wonderful afternoon that consisted of decorating bags for the egg hunt we planned for the children.
I had a particularly striking conversation with a 9 year-old girl today. She was working on homework and labeling the capitols on a United States map. I started talking with her about school and she told me that she loved math and that she learned her times tables when she was in first grade. This blew me away, because everyone I’ve known didn’t start multiplication until third grade. She told me she was advanced for her age and that her dream was to go to Harvard and study math. To hear such ambitious goals from such a young girl was inspirational, and I pray to God that her circumstances will not hold her back. Our team was reflecting later about how so many of the kids here are so smart and observant. We wondered if maybe the person who could cure cancer one day was born in an area suffering from urban poverty and a failing education system. These kids have so much potential but are unfairly being held back by circumstances beyond their control. Working with the kids this week and hearing their stories really helped me understand the effects of urban poverty and why everyone needs to care about this social injustice. Beyond the ethics of the situation, when one group of people is being subordinated, all of us suffer.
This week has been eye-opening, to say the least. I am so proud of our team and the work we accomplished. Everyone was so engaged with the kids and had multiple conversations throughout the day, everyday, about the causes and effects of urban poverty. I am grateful to United Way and the Boys and Girls Club of Newark for making this experience possible and for my incredible team for being beautiful (this was suggested by Damilare).
Newark Day 1!
Today was an amazing day here in Newark! We were sent out to our work sites for the first time! I spent the day here at the Central Ward Boys and Girls Club cleaning the facilities and running activities for the children. Most of the time, I hung out with a 10 year old girl and helped her with arts and crafts and talked with her a lot. It was great talking with the children and learning more about their experiences with the Boys and Girls Club. One of my favorite parts of the day was going through about 50 photographs the children had taken of each other a few months ago. The photographs were beautiful and helped us understand how the children see themselves and each other. I’m looking forward to possibly going on a field trip with the kids tomorrow and maybe even organizing the art closet!
Pre-Trip Reflection
I can’t believe there are only five more days until we leave for Tennessee! I’m really excited to work with the Cherokee community there and to learn more about their culture. I think it will be eye-opening to work in a community where there aren’t even streetlights on the roads. I’ve never been immersed in a culture before; I’m as excited to learn about their ways of life as I am to work in the senior center, childcare center, and different forests. Although I’ve done a lot of service before, I think this will be a great way to learn the difference between going in and “fixing” a community and working with a community as partners. We have a really strong and enthusiastic team (not to mention an awesome team leader) and I can’t wait to meet the students from University of South Florida and Colorado State! I think this trip will be a meaningful way to learn about a social issue and group that are often overlooked.