Fighting opposition to a good cause
I was first approached with the opportunity to help out on the alternative volunteer trip south to East Biloxi, Miss., a few weeks ago; the trip was in need of drivers. I was to be the only senior going with several ambitious and motivated underclassmen, and I was immediately impressed with the heart of the students involved.
I had earlier observed conversations in which Shara Esbenshade had been in conflict with authority in the school over missing Agora Days for this trip. I found the idea absurd that students shouldn’t be allowed to go on a charitable volunteer trip instead of Agora Days, which is somewhat educational but mostly just relaxing and fun. Ms. Patton seemed to be in support of the trip, however, and even considered chaperoning when our original chaperones dropped out.
Except for Ms. Patton, the opposition to this trip only shows how little respect faculty and administrators have for students here at Uni. Just because they didn’t come up with it and don’t have the opportunity to impose formal regulations and processes on it doesn’t mean it’s not just as valid. While the Habitat for Humanity trip is an excellent idea and should continue for as long as Agora Days is around, I believe the small group of students pulling this alternative trip together embody the true spirit of volunteer work.
This reminded me of a time when my oldest sister was in high school and was completely unimpressed with the quality of her student newspaper, which was actually just a piece of paper released each week with sports scores. In response, she and some of her friends created an alternative newspaper to effectively cover the events and happenings of the school that the current newsletter didn’t. But the teacher of the school’s print media class correctly recognized this as criticism of her class work, and made sure that this new, better paper wasn’t distributed in school.
Why should Uni, with its so-called open atmosphere, oppose an alternative to the established trip that clearly excludes a number of students who want to help? If anything, the school should be applauding the number of young students who put in the extra effort to help people in need.
Unfortunately, age restrictions kept much of the large group from being able to go. The people left are a core group of still ambitious students who want nothing more than to help out in a hurricane-ravaged area of the country, and are still in need of a chaperone. I hope that those opposed to this trip will see that it’s important to allow ambitious students to do positive things, even if it means they don’t have as much power to be involved. With any luck, I’ll be able to report back to you on the positive effects of this trip after we come back.
Matthew Freeman