To Appalachia and Back Again!

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Hello! My name is Olivia, and I am going to be a junior at Moose Lake Community School. This past June I joined a group of Fabric high schoolers, and together we embarked on a journey to Appalachia to do service work. This wasn’t my first trip with Fabric. Last summer I got the amazing opportunity to roadtrip to Colorado and go hiking in the mountains. This was a life changing experience for me. While I looked forward to our service work trip in Appalachia this summer, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. During the Colorado trip, I got to experience some once in a lifetime opportunities. I spent a week with a wonderful group of people, went white water rafting in the Arkansas River, and climbed a mountain! I knew that this summer’s trip wouldn’t be quite the same. And it wasn’t. However, it was still life changing! We got to learn new skills and practice ones we already had. Together we figured out how to use power tools, construct various housing projects, problem solve, and use our imaginations. We also practiced sharing our opinions, being flexible, and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable enough to ask for help. In addition to these skills, there were many more highlights from our trip. Within our group we played various games such as cribbage, contact, frisbee, bingo, and hide and seek. We enjoyed some car karaoke as well, jamming out to many different genres every time we got in the car. My favorite part of the trip was getting to know everyone. At the beginning I thought it was going to be awkward the whole time because I didn’t know a majority of our group, but I was wrong! By the end of the trip we were completely comfortable around each other. Lastly, I would like to mention the perseverance of our group. Right from the start we faced challenges, and we continued to throughout the week. Our flight to Nashville was delayed three hours, we had no idea what we were doing when we first started our house projects, and our day at the waterpark was spoiled by a storm. Despite all these challenges, our group found ways to keep everything fun! We didn’t let these problems get our moods down. In one way or another, I think I can say that this trip definitely changed each person in our group.

Digital Drawing done by Alexa Miller ft.

Blog by Olivia Jutila ft.