Building community through Journey
Every summer, students in the Journey program go on their core trip. The trip is an opportunity for students to spend time together, learn, and grow. During the summer going into ninth grade, they spend four days on Swan’s Island learning about its history, doing community service projects, and exploring the many scenic beaches. Students on this year’s trip also learned some different skills, including problem solving and adaptability, and they witnessed how community comes together to offer support.
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After a day spent exploring and getting a tour of the Swan’s Island School with the sixth through eighth grade teacher Michelle Whitman, students were settling down for the night when staff noticed a problem. At the Swan’s Island Baptist Church where they were staying, water from the tap had slowed to a trickle. It was too late to make any calls, so staff went into problem solving mode.
If there were any emergencies during the night, the staff had access to the parsonage down the road, and there was water left in a few of the coolers. It was decided to see what the next day would bring and reassess it in the morning. With nothing changed by daybreak, staff alerted the church and waited to see if a plumber could visit. However, with core trips often being a highlight of the Journey program and planned out and scheduled ahead of time, staff wanted to find a way to keep students on the trip and started brainstorming other possibilities.
Within hours, the community jumped into action. While the church tried to locate a plumber, a Mission staff member called Kim Colbeth, a longtime Swan’s resident. For the past few years, Kim has talked to students about island history, and with deep community connections. After she made a few calls, Swan’s Island Church of God opened their doors to students for the next few days. At the same time, a board member of the Baptist church primed the pump for the well and the water was back!
All of this happened in a few hours. While students had heard about the Swan’s Island community and how they had worked together in the past, but now they saw it in action. Many of them also realized that what had seemed like a big problem at one moment, was only a small inconvenience a few hours later. At the end of each trip, Journey staff asked for students’ reflections, and many saw this time as an important part of the experience, with one writing, “I learned that you have to persevere and get through all the obstacles that are thrown at you.” Another shared, “I learned that not everything has to go exactly how it was planned to have a good trip.”
These core trips allow students to learn more about themselves, their cohort, and the communities they visit. They push their boundaries, see what they are capable of, and begin to think about their futures. Which is what Journey is all about.
Learn more about the Journey program and if you are interested in offering support and mentoring to Journey students, the program is accepting mentors.
