This February, an unprecedented number of students dedicated their break not to skiing and bacchanalia, but to benevolent service. Four Middlebury Alternative Leadership Trips ventured to Miami, Dominica, New Mexico and Nicaragua, where they partnered with local organizations to help do good work and, in the process, learn from each other.
Because MAlt trips are student-led and funded, all the groups spent the first half of the year fundraising with gusto. The fall semester and Winter Term proved a flurry of Grille delivery, popcorn sales, Christmas card production and dating auctions.
Then, there was the task of communicating with host organizations and implementing a sometimes-tangled web of logistics
“The hardest part in planning was the communication with our host,” said Lisa Gretebeck ’10, who co-led a trip to Nicaragua with Ben Meader ’11.
“Developing countries don’t have the same consistent Internet access and availability that we have. Once we got down to Nicaragua, our delegation coordinator was an excellent host and took really good care of us.”
In Nicaragua, the group partnered with Project Chacocente, an organization that relocates families living in the Managua Dump to the rural community of Masaya and teaches them skills for independent living. There, Middlebury students built two houses, donated books and magazines to the community’s new library, and worked on a photo project local children. Each child was given a disposable camera and asked to take pictures of what was most important to them.
The group then developed the photos and assisted the children in making posters and collages, which the kids then shared with their families. The trip, especially the visit the group made to the dump, was really powerful
“it really put things in perspective,” said Gretabeck.
“Everything was a learning experience. I would say the hardest thing for us was thinking about leaving.”
Equally powerful was the MAlt trip to Miami, led by Robert Feliciano ’12 and Kat Carter ’12. Students worked with a number of different organizations including Touching Miami With Love, Allied Associated Veterans, the Ronald McDonald House of South Florida and Hands of Miami. Dane Verret ’12 found that volunteering in downtown Miami proved a stark contrast to images of beach-bound frivolity people associate with the city.
“You can see more of the Miami skyline and power lines from it than you can palm trees, or the ocean, or beaches,” he explained.
“I guess that’s why people never think of all the poverty in Miami; it’s in the shadow of all the bars and skyscrapers and beachbums.”
Verret enjoyed working with Touching Miami with Love, a Christian youth center, and spending time with elementary school kids.
“One of the teachers there, Ms. Trina, said that the kids in Touching Miami with Love needed extra focus, extra attention. Even though my group was only there for a few hours, I think we did a great job of making the kids feel great. I know how hard it can be for young people to get attention in places like downtown Miami, so I was glad to help out. It was a great day for me; I thought I was looking into a time capsule because I’d grown up in places like that. It was the first time I ever truly felt I’d become an adult.”
Feliciano, meanwhile, was particularly moved by the time the group spent at the Ronald McDonald House of South Florida. The facility provides housing to children in need of medical care and their families.
The organization is currently housing a number of children from Haiti who were injured in the earthquake. Feliciano was inspired by one of the young residents, an eight-year-old girl named Laura whose family fled from Cuba and received refugee status in the United States, only to learn upon arrival that Laura had cancer.
“These kids only see their doctors and reside with their families inside the house,” said Feliciano.
“Doing arts and crafts with them and just helping around the house really put a smile on these kids’ faces. Laura lost her arm and her hair to her illness, but that did not stop her from being funny/energetic/optimistic in life. I helped her bake some cupcakes and it just made her so excited and showed that we made a difference.”
If MAlt Miami could be deemed urban, the trip to White Sands National Monument in New Mexcio proved anything but. The group’s itinerary was packed with labor and travel.
“We had a great time and worked hard doing trail work and invasive species removal. We also demolished an old fence and built a new retaining wall,” said co-leader Lilly Corenthal ’10.
The group was lucky enough to venture deep underground to Carlsbad Caverns and and spend the week exploring — and sleeping — outside.
“The trip participants really bonded a lot, and we all feel like we’ve left with a new group of close friends who we wouldn’t have gotten to meet otherwise,” said Corenthal.
“We’re also all excited about volunteering for the park service again, and some of us are already are planning on summer jobs working for the rangers in White Sands.”
For Stephanie Astaphan ’10, leading a MAlt trip to Dominica struck, well, home.
“I’m from Dominica and it was really meaningful to show 11 people my tiny island! You spend just a week but you have an incredible experience.”
The group assisted local organic farmers, learned about sustainable agriculture, and volunteered at a local primary school.
“The point of the trip was to learn from local farmers and impart the values of sustainable agriculture to children in the primary school,” said Astaphan.
“It was great to get dirty and get manure in your hair.”
Great, too, was the sense of camaraderie and dedication to service the group established.
“We got really close as a group — incredibly so,” noted Miles Abadilla ’12.
“We had a rule of no iPods, headsets, etc, to facilitate bonding.” The bond then determined the course of their itinerary, ultimately encouraging the group to spend an additional day volunteering at the organic farms instead of heading to the beach.
“In the last week before departure, MAlt Dominica was awarded a substantial grant from the Environmental Council of Middlebury College, making the project feasible,” Astaphan added.
From the wilds of New Mexico to the farms of Dominica, from the streets of Miami to the dumps of Nicaragua, students spent their breaks broadening their horizons and making a difference.
“The best part was how the group was really excited about the service,” reflects Abadilla. You can say that again.
Students give back on MAlt service trips
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