Get Outdoors - Volunteer: Learning Leadership on the Trail

In 1998 I spent my summer doing volunteer trail work in Portland, Maine for the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and Portland Trails. It was a time of personal growth and leadership development which I feel was crucial in forming the person that I am today.My experiences in Portland introduced me to SCA and led me to apply for a second summer of trail work in 1999. I was accepted to a position on a backcountry trail crew in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

The four weeks I spent in Wyoming with SCA were truly unforgettable. Our crew of six students and two leaders worked together extraordinarily well to produce a beautiful trail, a new awareness of the environment, lots of laughter, eight new friends and a connection to the natural world that can only be gained through living in conjunction with it. I gained knowledge that cannot be learned in a classroom, on the Internet or through a book.The skills brought home from my Teton adventure go far beyond using a pulaski or building a footbridge. It is true that one main focus of the Student Conservation Association is trail work, but there is also a deeper, more personal focus. It all comes down to people skills. A person may arrive on site of an SCA project without the skills necessary to function well within a group, but they are sure to acquire these skills throughout the course of the program. Learning to handle one's self is equally as crucial as dealing with others.

I learned to critique myself and others in a healthy manner, never breaking down and always building up. Personal weaknesses are recognized and improved. I am a stronger, more group oriented person with a better understanding of true leadership. A good leader is able to learn, laugh and work with the group while being able to make wise decisions. Never separating yourself from the group, being patient and always keeping an open mind are some of the values I incorporate with good leadership.

The SCA experience carries personal development even one step further than personal and group skills; a personal connection is made with the environment. The natural world housed our crew for one month. We lived and breathed in the fresh mountain air, danced in scented fields of colorful wildflowers and bathed in the crisp mountain streams. Life without nature is no life at all. Eery time I step outside I am filled with an overwhelming feeling of joy. Mind, body and spirit come together and I feel truly cleansed by the beauty of the world around me. Anne Frank said it well: "Go outside amidst the simple beauty of nature and know that as long as places like this exist, there will be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be." In the Tetons this comfort was experienced at every moment. It has instilled in me a dedication to protecting our resources and has put me one step closer to my dream of working in a natural resource field. The SCA motto is "changing lives through service to nature." As SCA alumni I am proud to say that my own life is one of those that has been changed.

Student Conservation Association: SCA is the nation's leading provider of hands-on conservation service opportunities, outdoor education and career training for youth. Each year SCA volunteers perform more than one million hours of hands-on conservation service in national parks, forests, refuges and urban areas in all 50 states. For more information, visit the SCA website at www.sca-inc.org.