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March 1, 2007 • Volume 15 Number 12
Paul Chiozzi '07 spoke at a meeting this past Sunday of the Appalachia Volunteers Program. Chiozzi is co-leading a spring break service trip to North Carolina. (Photo by Suzanne Camarata)
Ready for the Ride
The journey to a spring break service trip begins long before students board the bus
By Sean Smith
Chronicle Editor
This Saturday, Boston College seniors Paul Chiozzi and Shannon Keating, along with 20 fellow BC students, will begin the last leg of a journey that, in essence, began about four months ago.
First, the group, as well as a few dozen more fellow undergraduates, will board a bus in front of the Flynn Recreation Complex and take a good long ride (more than 11 hours) to Raleigh, NC. From there, the 22 will continue on to Aberdeen, a town of less than 4,000 located about 100 miles east of Charlotte.
For the coming week, Aberdeen will be home to Chiozzi, Keating and this contingent of students in BC's Appalachia Volunteers program for whom the two are serving as team leaders. The group will work with Habitat for Humanity to construct houses for families in Aberdeen, where almost 14 percent of residents live below the poverty line.
The remainder of the some 650 Appalachia Volunteers participants will scatter far and wide across the country, from urban centers to rural coal mining towns, Cleveland to Biloxi, Miss. More BC students will spend the week volunteering in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and elsewhere abroad through other service programs.
Spring break service trips, whether to sites in the United States or other countries, have become a staple of the college experience, at BC and elsewhere. But as Chiozzi and Keating assert, the popularity of such activities among students does not diminish their significance or value, nor change a basic premise: Those who choose to serve will not likely see the world in quite the same way.
For Appalachia Volunteer participants to get to that point, however, requires considerable preparation: weekly group discussions; learning about the area where they'll be working; fundraising to cover travel expenses - the program raised a total of $320,000 this year for that purpose - and no small amount of personal reflection on the whole meaning of service.
"We say from the beginning that is a year-long commitment," says Chiozzi, "and we mean it."
Chiozzi, a communication major from Andover, has been on several Appalachian trips and considers them to be some of the best times he's had. "I've found that my most meaningful experiences are when I learn something new while I'm serving in a community. Whether it's about the ways in which Habitat for Humanity works as an organization, or how a family lives day to day, or even getting to know a fellow BC student outside of the college setting, my Appalachia trips have been unique and meaningful."
So, this year, Chiozzi felt it was time to add another facet to his Appalachian Volunteers experience. "I decided that I understood the Appalachia program well enough and knew I was passionate enough about service that I could be an effective trip leader."
As trip leaders, Chiozzi and Keating are responsible for handling the money and logistical parts of the trip, as well as leading nightly reflection and discussion sessions that take place during the visit.
Most students join Appalachia Volunteers in late September or early October, and take part in regular Sunday night meetings. "Those are the times when we try to prepare the volunteers as much as possible for what's ahead," says Chiozzi. "We talk about service, why we bother doing it, and why we do it in the Appalachia region. Since we don't have an application process, anyone can join as long as they come to meetings and contribute to the required fundraising campaign.
"We understand that there are students with a lots of volunteer experience, and those with none at all, and this diversity is great. It's a challenge for us in our preparation, but it's rewarding on the trips. Students learn a lot from one another, especially when there's an environment where everyone's encourages to share their thoughts."
As even their most ardent proponents acknowledge, service trips, especially short-term ones, often carry a philosophical issue with them: How much of an impact can volunteers really have in so brief a time? Does the work actually have more meaning for the students, rather than the community they seek to help?
Chiozzi has a ready answer: "We know that in one week, we are not making tremendous change. But we do make a human connection that's worth a lot more than a check in the mail. If someone in the Appalachia region enjoys our company, has a great week spending quality time with students who want to serve and learn and get to know new people, then we've accomplished a great deal. Our impact is in the relationships we develop with the members of the community and with each other, and that is making a difference."
Groups are not formed for specific sites until mid-February, and then hold a few organizational meetings to go over the work they'll be doing. There's not a lot of time to become for members to become well acquainted, say Keating and Chiozzi, but to a certain extent that is by design.
"We would like that students get to know each other best once we are at our sites and away from Boston College," says Chiozzi. "That said, people get very close with one another very quickly, and relationships start to form over the work we do and the conversations we have. It's a very special experience to get to know another BC student away from the busy campus life."
The camaraderie carries over beyond the trip, the team leaders add: Group members meet formally and informally afterwards, and help organize campus events - such as Appalachia Awareness Week - to tell the BC community about the work they do.
"There is a lot of great dialogue that we wish to continue, and a passion for service that we wish to spread," says Chiozzi.
That part of the Appalachia Volunteers experience lies ahead, though. For now, Chiozzi and Keating are focused on getting their group packed, ready and onto the bus the day after tomorrow. But there are more than practical considerations on their minds, Chiozzi says.
"I hope that each person getting on the bus has the time of their life. I hope that they make a difference in someone else's life, and that they are moved to make a change in their world. This is a program that turned things around for me my freshman year, and I wish the same for other freshmen going for the first time. I hope that they are challenged to think about the world they live in, and how the people in the Appalachia region are so close to us in so many ways."
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