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Rollins Provides a Whole New World of Opportunity

December 12, 2007

Rollins College has given me many opportunities for exploration, both personal and physical. Stepping on to Rollins campus to begin my freshman year, I had one overarching goal: “Try new things.” College is the time in your life when you are finally old enough to be making your own decisions and taking control of your life, but also before you have the responsibilities of a family or a job.

I grew up hearing stories of my father’s travels throughout Europe, but before coming to Rollins I had never left the country. One of the first groups I got involved in on campus was a student-run organization called Five Stones. Five Stones was begun by another Rollins student, Tessie Swope, who visited a small town in the Dominican Republic and was so moved by the people that she met that she began Five Stones to raise money for the town.

Now entering its fifth year, Five Stones has raised more than $55,000 and has established a community center as well as a scholarship program for the local children. I worked with many others during my first semester to raise money for the town and then traveled with other members of Five Stones to the Dominican Republic to see for ourselves who we were working for.

It was an amazing and humbling experience to go from living in a middle-class home in the United States to a host home in the Dominican Republic without indoor plumbing and with inconsistent electricity. This experience piqued my interest in volunteerism as well as travel. That summer, my roommate, Steve Miller, recruited me into his newly formed student-led volunteer group, Rollins Relief. He had seen the suffering wrought by Hurricane Katrina and took the initiative through the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership.

A dozen students and a professor spent the first week of their summer break pulling nine-month-old debris from houses in New Orleans in order to clear the way for rebuilding. By the end of the week we had all bonded and felt an enormous sense of pride that we had made a positive impact on people’s lives. I was so impressed with the spirit of my fellow Rollins students that I volunteered to return my sophomore year as a team leader with the Rollins Relief Intercession Course.

Another great part of the Rollins experience is the great international student community. One of my best friends is from Nicaragua, and a number of us traveled to his home and toured around Nicaragua with him over spring break. We were able to zip-line through a tropical rain forest and climb an active volcano. Far from being satisfied, my appetite for travel and adventure only grew.

When I heard about the Rollins program in Sydney, Australia I knew this may be my only chance to go, so I jumped at the opening. Rollins’ programs can best be summarized by the word “opportunity.” Of all the opportunities I have had at Rollins, this semester in Australia has by far been the greatest.

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