One week, a team of 10 people and a passion for helping others – that”s what University of Idaho student Michelle Shannon said it takes to be a part of the Alternative Service Break (ASB).
Shannon is a fifth year student at UI and said she decided to apply to be an ASB trip leader because of her enthusiasm for volunteer work.
Michelle Shannon | Courtesy
A team of University of Idaho students worked with native species on Mount Pisgah outside Eugene, Oregon, on an Alternative Service Break over spring break.
Her team traveled to Eugene, Oregon, for a trip called Nurturing Nature”s Playground where she said they worked to restore the land at Mount Pisgah.
Shannon said the trip completely opened her eyes to problems she hadn”t realized existed.
“We went to Mount Pisgah and worked with Friends of Beaver Park to take out native species that weren”t native to Oregon, and then we were planting native species that they were growing at the nursery there,” Shannon said.
She said maintaining native plants isn”t an issue people tend to become particularly passionate about, but over spring break she learned why the employees at Mount Pisgah work so hard to preserve the landscape.
“The overall problem is that the county Mount Pisgah is located in isn”t willing to finance people to come and maintain the land,” Shannon said. “They have regular volunteers that come in weekly to help, so this entire park is kept looking beautiful just by two paid employees and a lot volunteers.”
Shannon said leading nine people over an entire week helped her grow as a person. Her team was there for her when she said she encountered situations that were difficult to grasp. She said the most intense moment didn”t occur when they were volunteering, but when they were traveling through Eugene.
“I wasn”t raised in a city and I don”t go to cities often so seeing a lot of the homeless population out on the street and not knowing what to do or how to help someone like that or if they even needed my help or wanted my help was hard,” Shannon said. “It was difficult to process, so that was intense for me. A lot of people on my team helped me through that.”
Shannon said the best part of her trip was when she and her team hiked to the top of Mount Pisgah where she said she got to see all of the good they were doing for the park.
“We saw that there was so much more that we hadn”t even begun to work on or that we had even known about,” Shannon said. “When we hiked to the top, the path had a giant creek in the middle of it from erosion. With a group of 10 people you”d think they would want us to work on that, but they didn”t because there were so many other things they needed us to do. It really helped me appreciate the land and get everything into perspective.”
Shannon said this trip pushed her out of her comfort zone and changed her mindset on volunteerism. The idea that 10 students can make an impact in seven days by putting in a little bit of time and money is something Shannon said every student should try to become a part of.
“Students can gain a lot. It can be something as small as improving group social skills and being able to deal with other people for a long period of time or how to maintain group cohesion for an entire week,” Shannon said.
She said the volunteer work on every trip varies, and can range from working with homeless people to painting halfway houses. However, she said each trip gives students the chance to gain a different perspective on their community.
“We”re all kind of in the bubble of being in at the university and this is a great way to experience something new,” Shannon said. “It definitely does help the community around wherever you end up going, but you”re only there for a week and since we can”t help all the time I feel like it”s more for us to gain empathy about certain social situations.”
Jessica Gee can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JessicaC_Gee