Team Detroit: VT to the D Barbara
Flathers
On May 6th Team Detroit held its final meeting in
the form of a presentation. As the culmination of their service trip to Detroit,
the group gave a presentation that was held in Bentley auditorium. Each member
presented a portion of the talk. This tied back to the First Year Experience
Office by being a Creative Audience event, and the last one of the year. The
audience was considerable because many first year students attended because
they needed the event to complete their 1 credit course. Many other friends and
family members of the group were also in attendance as well as the President of
the College and several Deans and faculty and staff members.
Each member of the team talked about one aspect of the trip
to Detroit. A little background on this- even after returning from Detroit, the
group continued to meet weekly to discuss and plan for this presentation. Although
students did not receive credit for this trip, they all were totally invested
in delivering back a wonderful presentation that conveyed how much they loved
the trip.
To design the presentation, the team discussed ideas and
options democratically- and finally hashed out the lineup and final plan for
the event. On their own time, each member wrote up a small speech to about
their section. Many were scared about public speaking, most had never done it
before. They received support and suggestions from others about how to work
this out. With support from team members they have come to know and trust, they
were able to work through their nervousness. And a dress rehearsal two nights
before helped work many of the kinks out. The students designed a slide show,
culling down more than 1,000 pictures into a small group of about 100 images
they felt conveyed what Detroit is really like: graffiti, abandoned buildings,
people living there, urban renewal. They planned a music playlist of the
important artists from Detroit- Motown to Eminem. They decided what to wear- since
everyone had brought back a t-shirt or two with the name of companies or logos
from Detroit, the dress was casual. Shoes were optional.
At the end of the presentation, the group felt
relieved and excited that they had completed their presentation. Sad goodbyes and hugs were shared at the end of the evening. Students were very emotional, several shed some tears. Although everyone loved their time spent with Team Detroit, the fact that it was done and over made them equally sad.
Students were empowered by what they saw and spoke from
their hearts. Some plan to return to Detroit to do other efforts- a summer
internship at Quicken Loans, perhaps some more volunteering at the Core City Soup Kitchen. Others plan to continue their good work closer to JSC by working Laraway Youth and
Family Services because of their connection they made travelling with the
Executive Director. One student from the group has made other plans and will
exit the college and return home- but with a purposeful plan in place for her
time.
What lesson can I take away from Detroit and keep in
Vermont? While Vermont doesn’t have a large race issue like Detroit, it does
have a similar problem with class. Poverty is very high in Vermont. Breaking
the cycle with young Vermonters by helping create learning opportunities,
educating them on volunteering locally, giving back to the community, showing
them what is out there, finding cooperative spaces –how to use and share them
to start a business and bettering themselves by going to college is a great
place to start.
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