Detroit Service Trip LEAD team, try number 2

My freshman year, my cohort of LAS went on a service trip to Detroit where we received education about Detroit and served the community. This year I was on the LEAD team for the Detroit Service Trip for the freshman cohort of LAS. This meant I was able to participate in the experience and facilitate reflections with a small group of students. This experience had some differences from my freshman year, and I have grown a lot and am different too. It is because of these differences that I was able to learn so much and be impacted so heavily by the experience.

One of the biggest things that I took away this time was how aware I was of the gentrification that is occurring in Detroit. On the first day of the trip, we spent some time with Quicken Loans and took a historic tour of Detroit. During the tour, we learned about the housing barriers that have been placed on people of color and the systemic racism that has driven many decisions that have been made in the city. Decisions that were made not that long ago, have had immense effects on communities of color. After the day, I was eager to get into reflection because of the impact the tour. It was fulfilling to hear and see students response to the tour and the amount they learned. They were able to connect the dots in how power and privilege can lead to groups being oppressed. The next day we served with CASS. The group I was with worked on recycling paper. I helped sort paper before it went to be shredded.

This experience was an amazing one that gave me the opportunity to help members of the freshman cohort reflect and grow from their experience, and it gave me the opportunity to learn and grow myself.

The Saddest Cancelled Trip in History (not to be dramatic)

Last year I had to the privilege of going on the LAS in the D trip with my freshman cohort.  As members of LAS we serve on a LEAD team, and I was super excited when I found out I would be returning to Detroit as a member of the LAS in the D lead team.  As a facilitator of the Detroit Service Trip I would get the responsibility of being paired with another member of the LEAD team to help facilitate a group of freshman.

Through planning this trip, the LEAD team was getting really excited because we were working with our three LEAD team co-chairs to help them make the trip the best and most service and education oriented trip yet.  We had a chance to meet with the freshman who were going to be in our groups for the week to do pre-trip reflections to get their minds in the right mindset to learn and help foster change. Things were looking great, and we were ready to go.

But, weather in Michigan does not always let us get what we want.  The Thursday before the trip we found out the Detroit Service Trip had to be cancelled due to weather.  This was extremely shocking and disappointing. I was not only sad that I would not get to experience and grow from this trip, but I was also sad that there was a cohort of freshman who would not get to have the eye-opening experience that I had the year before.

Out of this happening I learned mostly that there are things out of our control.  I had my time to be bummed, but there are ways to learn outside of going on this service trip that I should embrace.  Others may not have been able to go on the exact trip I did as a freshman, but in that in no way means I cannot encourage others to take initiative and try to educate themselves.  I hope next year I get the opportunity to serve on the Detroit Service Trip LEAD team, so I can help make the difference I want.

Walking for a Cure

A part of our LAS protocol is participating in a LEAD team.  There are multiple LEAD teams such as Special Olympics, Competition Day, LAS in the D, and more.  My LEAD team that I was placed on was Relay for Life.  I was super excited when I found out this was my LEAD team because it was one of my top choices.  However, as Relay was growing closer we hadn’t has many meetings, done much fundraising, or decided on what we were doing with our table at the actual event.  Long story short, the LEAD team was struggling and there was an opportunity for me to become the new LEAD team co-chair.  I took this opportunity, and at first I was pretty nervous because I already have a busy schedule.  However, this gave me the opportunity to really dive in and enjoy Relay for Life in a way that is much different than I had I not been put into this leadership position.

With such a short amount of time the other co-chairs and I really were hoping that members of the LEAD team would do some fundraising on their own.  We began fundraising only three weeks before Relay and because of the commitment of the team members (S/0 Allie Rutman, Kelsey Corr, and Riley McGuire!!!) we ended up being 5th out of 59 teams for fundraising.  In a short three weeks we had raised over 1250 dollars for Relay for Life.  As things started to come together, I got super excited for Relay.

The day of Relay was probably one of my best days I have had at Central.  Relay started at 12pm, and from the very start there were people there ready to walk for a cure.  I had not been to a Relay in a really long time and I had forgotten how much fun it was!   It was even fun when we were sitting at the table selling cookies, selling t-shirts, and getting pied in the face.

The best part of the day was when a janitor working the event came up to us after seeing us do the pie in the face, and offered to add a little bit of flare to that particular fundraiser.  He said that when he was a little kid, he saw someone all dressed up get pied in the face and thought it was hilarious.  He said that it has been a life long dream to have someone pie him in the face while wearing a dress suit because he wanted to make people laugh.  He said he would go buy real pies(we had been using paper plates filled with whip cream) and also donate 20 dollars if we found people to pie him.  We got a survivor to pie him at the end of the night and five others attending Relay also pied him.  At the end of the night after he got pied, he was so happy it brought tears to his eyes.  He said he loved that not only could he live out his dream, he had the opportunity to make people laugh, but also donate to such a great cause.

Relay for Life really causes me to sit back and think about how many people in the world are affected by cancer.  You cannot go anywhere or know anyone without seeing/knowing someone who has had a relative or a friend or even themselves be affected by cancer.  Relay gives us the opportunity to help this cause, but also remember our loved ones.

This whole experience has taught me a lot about leadership.  I took this opportunity because I thought that it would help me a lot, and I didn’t really think much about how it would give me the opportunity to take a larger role in helping the community of people that Relay effects.  During the Luminaria ceremony, I kind of realized that the best part of this experience was being able to see that guy make people happy and see the survivors do the survivor lap.  This kind of opened my eyes that though leadership does help me grow, that is just a secondary benefit.  The best benefit of Leadership is the influence that we have on others and the differences we can make in the world.