Today we were lucky in Indy. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. We spent the day outside with Friends of the White River. We removed a lot of honeysuckle, an invasive plant. It was really tough work that required us to get dirty, scratched up,and as many people that met us afterwards can attest to, smelly. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the service, but even more so I enjoyed the relationships that were built. Kevin, Erica, and Dan were our community partners and were great at keeping us engaged all day. They made sure we realized how the work we were doing benefited the environment and the surrounding area. I was personally motivated because I saw a purpose to my service. They were extremely knowledgeable about all things White River, which immediately made it more fun. We had some awesome stories told and questions answered.
The most important part of the day was reflection though. We came back and were able to talk about what the service meant and how we would be able to take the knowledge we gained and apply it to our world. We started a list of things and ideas we want to work on at Missouri State and talked about things we think MSU already does a great job at. In all, basically, we were able to work as a team really efficiently during our service, but more importantly, we learned and gained an understanding of what it means to be an citizen that is engaged and educated. This trip is teaching us things I wasn’t expecting, and building relationships that are unpredictable, between community partners, students, and staff. I can only imagine what the potential is for the rest of the week. It’s going to be fun.