Capstone Sa

What?

 

During my first semester of college, in 2012, as part of the RLC experience, my LDRS 1015 class and I visited the Appalachian community of Ivanhoe for a day of service. Ivanhoe is located in Wythe County, in the heart of Southwest Virginia, and about an hour from Virginia Tech’s campus. For more than 60 years, the small town was home to a rapidly growing number of iron mines until around 1981, when the mines one by one began to shut down. The once flourishing small town was left with nothing but contaminated ground water and wells – which caused the town to, still to this day, pump water from Fort Chiswell, a community 10 miles south of Ivanhoe - few jobs, and little to no perspective of a future. In light of all the difficulties faced by the community, Maxine Waller, one of the residents of Ivanhoe, organized the Ivanhoe Civic League, in 1987, with the purpose of bringing the community together for service and mutual support. I went to Ivanhoe to spend a day experiencing the daily life of the community and to serve as a volunteer, but I left the town with much more than warm thank you notes from the residents, I changed my leadership perspective that day.

 

So What?

 

As a freshman at Virginia Tech, I did not know exactly what to expect from this day of service other than a lot of work and I was surprised when I left Ivanhoe in happy tears. This experience with the Ivanhoe community profoundly changed me as a leader and a citizen because it made me realize how important it is for communities to come together, especially during difficult times, and how meaningful the work of leaders can be. Up to that point, I was convinced that a leadership minor would open me doors at the workplace, or impress potential employers, but that day at Ivanhoe changed everything for me, I learned that leadership touches people, it enters communities and perpetually changes them and because of that I realized that I, as a leader, had a lot more responsibility than I expected.

 

During the day I spent in Ivanhoe, I served in the kitchen making meals for my peers and the Civic League members who were welcoming us for the day. The structure of the community shocked me very much, the lack of resources, and yet the closeness of everyone involved in that venture was simply heart touching. While in Ivanhoe, I had a chance to hear from the elderly in the community and learn their perspectives on the presence of the mining industry in the town and its sudden departure, I had an opportunity to experience true community action and first class leadership for myself and this is what really made this day a key event in my formation as a leader.

 

Now What?

 

The last thing we did while in Ivanhoe was a community celebration, which included reading out loud a word that we chose to describe our day there. My word of choice was “surprise” and I still remember that because that day was a surprise to me as a citizen, as a professional, and as a leader. My experience as part of the service learning trip to Ivanhoe made me realize how important it is for me to serve and give back to my community and as such it helped me decide to engage in leadership as a passion and as a part of my career which incentivized me to pursue this minor. Furthermore, the time I spent in Ivanhoe helped me deciding which paths I wanted my career to follow, a career that I had barely started building. After that day in Ivanhoe, I chose to get to know the leader inside me as best as I could and to make the best out of my talents so that one day I can give back to all of the communities around the world which I have embraced and which have welcomed me and that surely includes Ivanhoe, VA.