Alternative Fall Break Trip (2009)

Cody Jolin ('11), Timothy Sinkovits ('13), and Erfan Taifi ('12)
 dig a trench to house Growing Power's newest Aquaponics system. 

“I gleaned for worms, re-composted seed beds, harvested pea sprouts, hauled stuff all around, built a bio-filter, mucked, lots of different things. I liked building the bio-filter--it may have been difficult but it was so rewarding seeing the work that I'd accomplished from start-to-finish,” said a Ripon College student who recently participated in the Office of Community Engagement’s 2009 Alternative Fall Break Trip to Growing Power, a non-profit urban farm and educational site in Milwaukee WI.

Nyi Nyi Aung ('12) herds goats at Growing Power.

Students attending had the opportunity to face a myriad of new experiences on this trip. Not all of them were pleasant or easy to handle: issues such as homelessness, food security, circumstantial poverty, generational poverty, resource availability, and the mental and physical ramifications of a long day of physical labor are among only a few of the issues observed, experienced, and discussed on a daily basis over the course of the trip. With true Ripon College fortitude, most of the students were able to turn these difficult experiences into positive life lessons.

“Lodging at the church was hard because it was cold and sleeping on the ground wasn't very comfortable… It gave us a sense of what it might feel like to be homeless…It made me appreciate what I have, and I think we should definitely do it again,” one student remarked.

The view from inside one of the Growing Power greenhouses.

All 14 students in attendance agreed that the experience at Growing Power was something they would like to repeat in the future. First year Dawn Burnside enthused, “I really enjoyed working there. It was hard work but it felt like I was doing something. I learned so much while I was there. I wouldn't have ever been able to have an experience like that if I hadn't gone to Growing Power.”

What students are saying:

“This place was the kind of volunteer work that I would like to do in the future because I actually can see how my work is going to affect Growing Power. Also, I liked the fact that the work was hard physically-- some people don't/didn't know what hard work was until they came to Growing Power and I think that everyone should experience that.” –Tonya Reetz, second year.

Rebecca Shackleton ('13) harvests greens.

“I would like to be able to learn more about the processes they have there and the plans for the future. While we were there Will talked briefly about how they may begin producing energy from the methane given off during the decomposition process. I would love to see Growing Power become even greener by having no wasted energy.” –Dawn Burnside, first year

“Building the bio-filter [was one of my favorite tasks at Growing Power]. Not many college students can look back on their volunteering and see something come together quite like the bio-filter did. It took a full day of back breaking work but at the end of it the three of us could see what all the work was for. There are a lot of service projects where you cannot experience that.” --Anonymous

“I worked with Paul [one of the interns] for a couple hours unloading a truck of compost. We talked and he told me about his dreams of opening up a farm. All the interns were that way; they didn’t make you feel like volunteers. They were all very good at making you feel like you were needed for the functioning of the farm.” --Anonymous

Ripon College students and alumni gather at Admissions Officer Lyn McCarthy's home for dinner and conversation.