Building Community in the Pouring Rain

Excerpted from a speech written by Jennifer Lopez, a senior at a NYC Outward Bound School in Washington Heights

Good evening, my name is Jennifer Lopez and I go to WHEELS, Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School, a NYC Outward Bound school in Washington Heights.

Most students come to WHEELS as 6th graders, so when I came to the school in 9th grade, I felt like a fish out of water: all the other students had known each other for three years and already had their friend groups. Plus, most, of the students at WHEELS are Dominican, but I’m Mexican, which added to my sense of isolation.

Luckily that sense of isolation did not last long, WHEELS possesses a strong sense of community, and I felt at home in less than a week.

That year I joined soccer, band, helped out with the school play, and even tried out for flag football, where amazingly enough I met my best friends. I thought I made my biggest accomplishment, being able to make new friends at a new school.

But this past summer I faced a new — if familiar — challenge when I went on a 2 week backpacking and canoeing Outward Bound course in the Blue Ridge Mountains

I arrived at the airport in North Carolina and met the other students on my course, and immediately felt isolated: I felt like an outlier, completely different from everyone. I was 1 of 3 girls, 1 of 2 Hispanics and the only one on a scholarship.

I thought “What did I get myself into?” and “Will I be able to befriend my group members and have a good time?”

That first day was the worst. It started to rain when we arrived at the campsite. Then it poured. I was hungry and grumpy. I started to become mad because it was still hours from bedtime, and I was going to have to sleep on the wet ground and my tarp wouldn’t stay up. And then the arguing started, the boys screaming about who’s going to sleep in what tarp and then screaming about not being able to tie a knot. Homesickness hit. It was really hard not being able to communicate with my parents and tell them about my day; this trip was the first time that I was truly away from them, and being surrounded by strangers didn’t make it any easier. I thought to myself “the next 2 weeks are going to be the worst”.

Finally, later that night, the rain stopped and me and the other girls made our way to the kitchen, I smelled macaroni and cheese and I got excited. I sat and the two other girls sat beside me, not talking, just sitting trying to get away from the arguing. I’ve never liked awkward silence but I also don’t like to initiate conversations, especially with strangers. I remembered my teachers at WHEELS always encouraging me to be the initiator because I am a “people person”. I thought of the sense of community at WHEELS and how I want that feeling no matter where I go. I wanted that during my course too, and as my teacher says “If it were easy everybody would do it”. I took the initiative and broke through my shyness in order to break through the silence.

The girls and I started to talk about something we have in common. Surprisingly this was Hamilton the musical, and we were able to make an instant connection after that. Our conversations went from Hamilton to the pets we had at home and our friends. Once the boys finally stopped arguing they joined us, and the same thing happened.

I wanted to project the sense of community I know at WHEELS. Optimism, patience, compassion and persistence were needed, and I was ready to bring that to the group. Long hiking days ended in celebration, the arguing diminished and I don’t think anyone felt isolated anymore. I was able to create a bond with both my crew members and my counselors and those two weeks became the best.

Thank you North Carolina Outward Bound Schools, Outward bound, course directors and everyone for giving me this opportunity.