I learned about the Alternative Breaks Conference the first eboard meeting I had with Tulane Alternative Breaks. I had just been accepted as one of the new eboard members and came to this meeting to figure out what I was suppose to do to help run this program on campus. However, one of the first things I was told was that Break Away (our national organization) hosts these conferences every summer and it would be a great opportunity for eboard members to attend. I decided to sign up and go because I could use all the knowledge I could get as a new eboard member! The Engaged Learning Award was also suggested to me to help pay for the cost of the conference and the flight there. Since the conference focuses on training students to become better educated leaders in social change, I felt that the award aligned well with what I wanted to gain from the conference.
When I first applied for the award I had intentions of going to the Grand Canyon Conference because I’m very interested in environmental conservation. However, by the time I received the award that conference was already filled up and I was forced to sign up for the Columbus, Ohio conference. The Columbus, Ohio conference was titled “Navigating Access, Integration, and Citizenship as New Americans.” Honestly, I wasn’t as excited for this conference as I had been for the Grand Canyon one. I felt that working with immigrants and refugees was not what I was interested in because I didn’t have any background knowledge or experience. I knew that I would gain a lot of knowledge on how to be a successful TAB eboard member and would gain a great new experience but deep down I was really disappointed about not being able to go to the Grand Canyon.
I was nervous coming to this conference because I was scared I was going to be the “dumbest person there.” I had no background knowledge or experience on immigration policy and integration programs. I felt like I wouldn’t have anything useful to add to discussions. My only saving grace was that this conference is two-fold. It teaches students how to run and plan a successful Alternative Breaks program and applies that knowledge to the social issue of integration of New Americans. Therefore, I had this whole expectation of coming to this conference, taking the information I “needed” and just make it through the areas that focus on New Americans.
When I arrived to the conference, the first thing we did was play a name game with all the conference attendees. This was a nightmarish way to start off the week for me, since I am naturally shy and cannot remember names for the life of me. Afterwards, we broke into our groups with whom we would be spending the rest of the week. My group consisted of students and staff members of colleges all from over the country. Each day we would work with a community partner and attend two workshops. We worked with a different organization each day, but each organization shared the common interest of immigrant and refugee integration into American society. The workshops focused on different components of running a successful Alternative Break program. Then, each night we would have a different activity and would end each night with a group reflection.
One of the community service days, I worked with a boy the same age as me. He had only been in the country for three weeks but his English was really good for only that short amount of time being here. Even though there was a serious language barrier between us, we really connected and conversed without having a conversation of words. It was a human interaction I’ve never experienced before. We were joking and laughing a lot with the few words we shared. With such few words, we were able to find plenty of other similarities. This experience made me realize the power of human interaction. With just a little bit more effort, I could find a connection with someone who I can barely talk to. I feel like people spend too much time focusing on the differences between humans and forget to take the time to realize the similarities. I also realized the importance of the little things. The boy I was working with was unfamiliar with how to tell time in English and how the United State’s currency worked. As I was helping him through these skills, I realized how much I forget how important understanding those cultural norms is. Understanding the difference between a five-dollar bill and a 20-dollar bill is extremely important.
During one of the workshops, we talked about the path to becoming an active citizen and the different stages you go through to get there. The stages included; member, volunteer, conscientious citizen, and active citizen. The stage that I found myself in is the conscientious citizen stage. As this citizen, I know the grass root problems of issues in this country, yet it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless about how to help these hundred and thousands of people in need. I definitely have been stuck and almost depressed in this stage for a lot of my life. In middle school, I wanted to save the world and truly felt that I could in my future. When I came to high school and really became educated on all the troubles in the world I realized how insignificant I really am and struggled with the idea that no matter what I do, I will never really make an impact. To this day, I still struggle with that hopeless and insignificant feeling; however, coming to this ABC and realizing that I am not the only one that has been stuck and almost depressed in that stage is a step closer for myself to grow into an active, and positive, citizen.
As I look back on my week, the first thing I thought of was, “Thank the heavens its over.” Not because I didn’t enjoy myself – because I did – but because I was exhausted. It was a wildly, unexpected journey. Not only had I been handed amazing resources and ideas and connections for TAB, but I also found a support system of people that have helped me come into my own identity. Spending each day with the same passionate, caring people and then reflecting with them on the though social issues we learned that day, made it really easy for us to become friends. As a naturally shy person, I have surprisingly become more open and passionate about my struggles with my identity and who I am. I find myself wanting to share and talk about my story as well as listen and learn from other people’s stories. As a member of TAB eboard, I want each trip to be just as positive as an experience as mine where participants and trip leaders can find new friendships through their trip. Furthermore, through the workshops at the conference, I learned the importance of branding and reorientation. TAB eboard is now working on our brand with a new logo, mission statement, and social media marketing plan to really get our name and purpose out there to expand our participants and eventually our presence on campus. TAB also has plans to make our reorientation a much bigger part of the Alternative Break experience. We want reorientation to become a more educational experience where participants and trip leaders can bring back what they learned on their trip to what they can do back on campus and in New Orleans. The Break Away conference really proved my initial expectations wrong and taught me to take any opportunity I can and has really inspired me to bring back what I learned back to the Tulane community through Tulane Alternative Breaks.
