Any expectations I had going into this solar spring break trip were easily surpassed by the end of the trip.
When I signed up for the trip I had reached a point in my life where I felt I had made all the friends I was going to make in my life and had met all the people in my life that were going to make a huge impact on me moving forward. As you move from one level of schooling to the next you have the friends that you keep in touch with and the ones that fade away. It’s a part of life and that’s okay. Jobs are the same way; you have your coworkers, sometimes they introduce you to their circle of friends, and then your coworkers come and go. The flux of people you are meeting in the working world (especially post college) tends to be slower. I think it is safe to say that typically the more established you become as an adult, through marriage, kids, and your career, the more your circle of friends doesn’t change. All of this is from my own experience of course, your life is only as small as you make it. There are plenty of people who put themselves in situations everyday where they will meet and learn new people.
I say all this to say that by the end of this trip I had been impacted by over a dozen new people in ways I could have never hoped. When you are removed from your daily routine and thrust into a new environment with essentially complete strangers, it is fascinating to observe how in such a short amount of time you can form close bonds with those once strangers. Our group had a unique event occur early on in our trip that quickly brought us all that much closer. When tragedy strikes and you are left feeling vulnerable, the walls most of us build come down and you can let others in. When you encounter someone being completely open, genuine, passionate, and vulnerable it makes you that much more likely to open up.
I also entered this trip knowing that I personally needed a renewed perspective on my ability to make a difference in the world. I don’t want to say that growing up and the responsibilities of adulthood had changed my ‘I can do anything I want to do attitude’ but in a certain sense when you have bills to pay, assignments to finish, and deadlines to meet….it gets harder to remember how you felt as a kid dreaming about what you wanted to do when you ‘grow up’. As humans, it is easy to get wrapped up in our own lives, routines, and hardships. I am huge victim of this; especially being a grad student who also works a full-time job.
Early on our group leader made it known that the trip would not have been the same if any one of us had not been on it. I firmly believe that. I also firmly believe that the GRID staff had a huge impact on our trip. From the moment we arrived at the GRID office to the moment we said our goodbyes their personalities, passion, drive, and kindness was infectious. The GRID staff was welcoming and committed to making our trip amazing. The work they do every day and who they are every day is a complete inspiration. Being surrounded by my group members and the GRID staff for the week I could remember that I can make a difference and more importantly I want to continue making a difference.
I realize in writing this I haven’t talked at all about the details of the work we did. Of the afternoon we spent knocking on doors to inform families about GRID in hopes of finding future solar panel recipients, of all the aspects of how a nonprofit like GRID completes its mission, of the morning we spent working with One Cool Earth at a high school plant nursery, of the prep work we did for the install, of the entire process of the install, of the impact, both monetarily and environmentally, that the solar panels we installed will have for the families, or of all the beautiful scenery we were able to witness in our travels. All these experiences were crucial to helping me become inspired by the people I was alongside for the week. I walk away from this experience having learned so much about installing solar panels, having gained a dozen more friends, having renewed my passion for making a difference, and having learned the correct way to pronounce Reese’s.
Thank you to everyone who made this trip an unforgettable experience!