Fifty students take part in six AWOL winter trips

USD’s chapter of AWOL — Alternative Week of Off Campus Learning — is taking students to one of six different locations this winter: Baltimore, Md., Dallas, Texas, Minneapolis, Minn., New Orleans, La., Honduras and the Florida Everglades.

Each trip lasts for a week, with five days devoted to doing service work for a social issue and one day of cultural or historic learning. The social issues for this winter’s trips include disaster relief, environmental conservation and protection, healthcare and urban poverty.

Students apply to the AWOL program several months prior to the actual trip. Those selected attend six pre-trip meetings, where they learn about team building, conflict resolution and their trip’s social issue.

“The goal of AWOL is to get students to think about social issues on a deeper level,” AWOL adviser Karl Reasoner said. “We want students to experience these things and really immerse themselves in social issues. By having these experiences, they will become more conscious of things around them.”

Reasoner said 115 students applied for the 50 available spots. Compared to last year’s 65 students that applied, Reasoner said the number has grown pretty substantially.

As a result of the increased demand for spots the program is trying to increase the number of programs offered during winter break.

Reasoner said an experience such as this can change a student’s world and life perspective.

Tyler Miiller, an AWOL Learning Partner, had such a shift in perspective after his first AWOL trip to Guatemala in December 2010 to help rebuild homes lost to natural disasters and build a new school.

“This was my first experience of an international service trip, and I can honestly say I haven’t been the same person since,” Miiller said. “I brought back more than just pictures — I brought back a whole new outlook on life. While living in America, we see pictures, hear stories and know the facts about internationally underserved areas, but you don’t truly know what the individuals are facing until you experience it first-hand.”

Miiller has been on two other AWOL trips; one to Sioux Falls in 2011 and one to Memphis, Tenn. in 2012. The December expedition to Baltimore, Md. will be his final AWOL trip.

“I’m really excited for the experiences this trip will soon bring, and I’m looking forward to introducing new trip participants to AWOL,” Miiller said. “AWOL is beneficial to students because it forces them to step beyond what they are used to, out of their comfort zone and into many of the social issues that are facing the world today.”

AWOL President Eric Schlimgen agrees.

“This is truly a unique experience for students to step out of their comfort zone and see a perspective that would normally go unnoticed,” he said.

Schlimgen has been on three AWOL trips. He has traveled to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Eagan, Tenn. and Minneapolis, Minn.

“My trip to Minneapolis was especially interesting, because many participants travel to the city but never see it from the perspective of a homeless individual,” he said. “We were able to work with organizations that interacted with homeless individuals, families and others who struggled with addiction. It is easy to speculate what the fears or goals of homeless individuals are but until you sit down at a soup kitchen and have a conversation together you can only speculate.”

Schlimgen said students interested in getting involved in AWOL should not hesitate to do so.

“If a student is looking for an experience to put on their resume they should keep looking,” Schlimgen said. “But if they want to let themselves be vulnerable to experience the views of others while doing meaningful service they will love AWOL.”