For the spring break of my sophomore year, I made a quick decision to join a team of ODU students on an Alternative Spring Break to Blackville, South Carolina. Little did I expect that I would become the leader of the team, learn so much about myself, or have such a meaningful experience helping people that I only just met.
Even before the trip to South Carolina departed, I learned how to adapt to a new situation. The week before the trip, our student Team Leader, who invited me to join her trip just weeks before, had to step down. This unpredictable circumstance would possibly cause the trip to be cancelled if no one was willing to step up to this leadership position. I knew there would be some challenges, considering the trip was only a week away, but I immediately felt called to take on this task. My experience as an Outdoor Adventure Program (OAP) trip leader for ODU enabled me to make this transition smoothly. Both Alternative Break Team Leaders and OAP Trip Leaders share responsibilities including: holding pre-trip meetings, planning trip logistics, emailing participants details of the trip, facilitating icebreakers, leading debriefing sessions each day, encouraging participation and finding roles for participants, and applying ideas learned during the trip to real life scenarios. I was able to adapt to my new leadership role just as I have stepped up to lead trips for the OAP suddenly.
Before the trip began, I felt confident about my leadership abilities, since I had led many trips through the OAP in the past year. During the trip, however, I discovered that it was a challenge to be the sole team leader, since I was used to having co-leaders to collaborate with in every trip with the OAP. With the Alternative Break, I had to learn how to make decisions and trust my best judgement without the input of other team leaders. Because of this, I developed a leadership style in which I allowed the group to help me make decisions. This was a great approach to the challenge of being the only leader, because I was able to clearly communicate with the group, and receive feedback. Though I gave the group the power to help me in decision making, I was ultimately the leader, and was able to take charge when necessary.
This trip has enabled me to reflect on my abilities as a leader and assess my sense of self as a learner. I was able to build on my prior experience so that I could respond to the challenges as a leader for this program. Much of what happened on the trip was different from the original plan, but I was able to adapt to each situation as we approached conflict. For example, we were scheduled to rebuild a playground at the school, but because necessary equipment was not delivered on time, we were able to speak words of encouragement in the classrooms. We cleaned the town’s community center indoors instead of completing an outside project another day. As a leader, I remained positive for the group when plans changed, and found an alternative to plan so that we were still helping the Blackville community.
The community in Blackville was inspiring because of how tight-knit the members were. They lived simply, took their time to live in the moment, and cared greatly about each other. The community of ODU students that attended the trip had just met each other the week before, but as we helped with community projects including painting fire hydrants, clearing a nature trail, visiting elementary school students, painting the walls of an alcohol abuse community center, and just simply connecting with the community members in their town hall, church, and homes, we learned how great it is to live as humbly as the citizens of Blackville. Apart from connecting with the Blackville community, our group from ODU was able to easily bond because we were all going through the same experience together.
This trip has taught me lessons that cannot be taught in a classroom easily: these lessons are learned from the experience of leading and adapting. Not only did I learn about myself, but I also learned about a caring community in Blackville, South Carolina; only two states away from ODU, yet so culturally different in the ways I did not expect. The hospitality and humility the community of Blackville displayed is unlike anything I have ever experienced. I believe that I speak for the group of students who joined me on this trip when I say that this experience is one that we have all learned from and will never forget.
