VOICES What Travel Taught Me About Me This past spring break, I traveled to the Dominican Republic with 16 other Blake students and two teachers. Initially I was hoping to practice my Spanish in a Spanish-speaking country, but the nine-day experience ultimately gave me more confidence, taught me about myself as a leader and allowed me to trust my abilities.
In the short time we spent there, I realized the best
way to be an effective leader was to focus on my strengths and use them for the benefit of the group. Although this meant stepping out of my comfort zone, discovering my leadership ability brought surprises and rewards.
One day our group interviewed locals about life in
the Dominican Republic. Since most of them didn’t speak Jane Lansky ’20 teaches swimming lessons at the Midtown YWCA, where she often gets to practice her Spanish with her students and other patrons.
English, it was up to the Spanish-speaking students to conduct the interviews. In order to speak with as many people as possible, we split into smaller groups and walked around the small town. I soon realized that, besides our teacher, I was the only Spanish speaker in the group. I felt nervous about speaking Spanish with native speakers, but despite my fear, I stepped up to conduct the interviews and help translate for the students in our group.
Another day, we were instructed to build a small house
for a local family. Our group was intimidated by the work at first, but we discovered if we assigned tasks based on strengths, we would be able to meet the challenge. I used strategy skills to help our group maximize efficiency by moving boards and determining where they should be hammered into the wall. It took most of the day, but by the end of the afternoon we had completed the small house.
This incredible experience not only allowed me to
practice Spanish and learn about Dominican culture, it taught me how to be a leader in my own way.
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