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| Some of the boys, my friend Allyson and I (we now live together!) |
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| Our SMC group that finished 150 wings! BUFFALOVE '11 |
I was nervous about accepting the trip to Kentucky since I wasn't sure exactly where I would be handling the semester of stage-managing, two 300-level History classes and Stagecrafts. I was hoping for some down-time but after talking with people from home, I decided to go!
Coming back to SMC and meeting our group was great - we had a few meetings before we left where we discussed packing, our jobs, and getting to know each other.
The night before we left we had a reflection with all the other service trips and then dinner at Carrie's house! SMC faculty and staff are so accepting - and Carrie made a delicious spaghetti dinner!
The next day we got up at 4 AM to meet in the MOVE office for our flight. Needless to say I got maybe four hours of sleep after double-checking I packed everything.
Airport after airport, we arrived in Kentucky a day before registration for CAP (Christian Appalachian Project) where we napped and enjoyed dinner a Charley's - AMAZING ROLLS!
Sunday, we met Antonio, the bus driver for the Tennessee Tech University baseball team. Turns out they were staying in our hotel and had a game that day against Eastern Kentucky University that was just down the street! We decided to go after Mass and make up 50-75% of their cheering section.
Before that we traveled to Mass at St. Mark's. There was a service group from their parish going to North Carolina for the week and they got a blessing. This is relevant because we stood out like a sore thumb in our jeans and t-shirts. The priest saw us and invited us up after hearing that we were also going on a service trip. Our goal was to be subtle participants in the back...not so much.
We then drove to the Laurel Lake Baptist Camp for registration and orientation. We met many different people from many colleges: University of South Florida, University of Notre Dame, College of Saint Mary, North Dakota State University, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, College of Mount St. Joseph, and Eastern Illinois University. This gave me the opportunity to meet other college students that I never would have!
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| SMC Girl Power! |
We also found out our crews: check out THE PURPLE CREW!
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| Top row: Tristan (Mount St. Joe's), Matt (NDSU), Jake (Long-term Volunteer), Jake (UNC-CH), Kaytlyn (Notre Dame), T (Volunteer), Jess (Long-term Volunteer), Simone (UNC-CH), ERROL (leader) Bottom Row: Amanda (SMC), Me!, Alex (College of St. Mary), Victoria (Eastern Illinois) |
We worked on a house that had burned down a few years ago: we mostly did demo of front and back porches, the remaining siding and insulation, and parts of the roof. We then did sheathing (aka putting parts of OSB on the framing of the house).
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| The owner checking out the final touches for our week! |
We had a great time bonding as a crew as well as getting to know the owner of our house. I was so privileged to meet and work with all these wonderful people. I was not expecting this trip to affect me as much as it has and I think about it everyday!
I definitely recommend to anyone in the SMC community to apply for an Extended Service Trip - you get to meet and bond with AWESOME people and work to better others' lives. I feel truly blessed to be able to have had this opportunity!
Carrie also blogged about her experience in Kentucky; check it out here!
Check out the Christian Appalachian Project's Workfest blog here- with a video including yours truly!
While there is always more news to come, I've got to be getting on with my spring cleaning!
Until next time,
Katelyn :)
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