1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project.

For my STEP Signature Project, I traveled to the lovely Big Island of Hawai’i with the GIVE Volunteers Program May 14^th through the 23^rd. During my nine days there, I, along with 22 other amazing individuals, performed a variety of different service projects such as assisting local farms with clean up and weed matting, harvesting rocks for traditional Hawaiian hales, and supporting local businesses and organizations. After our daily volunteer work was done, we would do our exploration activity for the day. These exploration activities included taking a walk through the Kalopa Native Forest, snorkeling in the clear coastal waters off a charter boat, hiking through Volcanoes National Park, and watching the sunset at the southernmost point of the U.S. One night, the group even harvested food and made a delicious farm-to-table dinner. Throughout this trip, we were also taught traditional Hawaiian culture and language practices.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project?

Before this trip, I will admit that I was a lot more oblivious to the impact that we have as individuals on the places we choose to visit, both negatively and positively. I ignorantly always assumed that just because you were visiting a place and eating or shopping at a few local businesses you were helping the surrounding community. This trip taught me that I was wrong. There is so much more involved when it comes to visiting a new place, especially Hawai’i. I learned that it is upon us, as travelers, to take the time to learn cultural practices, traditions, and some language as we venture to new places along with being respectful to the people native to that land and the land itself. Not only that, but take into account what establishments are actually helping the surrounding community flourish in comparison to the ones exploiting the local culture and land just for profit. Moving forward from this trip, anywhere I plan to travel will be met with the utmost respect and understanding of cultural values I can provide. GIVE’s mission statement is “travel with a purpose,” and I can definitely say that that statement will be adopted as my own, as well.

3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you?

So many things happened on this trip that led to my personal transformation mentioned above. First, I shall begin with our group discussions. Throughout the trip, we had multiple discussions, before, during, and after our daily service projects. All of which pertained to what we were doing, how we were helping, and what we could learn from and use in our future. A major underlying topic of all these discussions was Hawaiian culture. A particular discussion that has stuck with me since is one we had during one of our last nights on the trip. During this discussion, we were shown a few different videos about Hawai’i’s history and its history with the United States. This discussion was the most eye opening of all in relation to my transformation. I learned how disrespectful the United States has been to Hawai’i since before the islands were taken from the natives and made a state to this very day. Not only that, but how other Americans ignorantly travel to the islands with no regard for real native culture. This realization was heartbreaking and invoked a need for changing my perspective on how I perceive the places I travel and how I travel to them.

Another key factor that led to my transformation was the interactions I had with locals on the trip. The locals ranged between people met in passing in local shops to the people leading our community project for that day. One of the most heart touching interactions was with someone our travel group came to know as Uncle Wayne. A few others and I were standing outside of a coffee shop in Pāhala when we had been approached by him and he asked us what our group was there for and so forth. We explained to him that we were there with GIVE and we were doing service projects around the island with different local community partners. He was intrigued and we exchanged our group leader’s contact information with his. After he talked with our group leader, the next morning we went and helped him out at his farm that produces and distributes food to the community. We worked covering his farm fields with weed mats. After we were done with our work, Uncle Wayne tearfully spoke with us about how thankful he was for our help and beautiful it was that us nonnatives were appreciating the land and giving it the respect and love it deserved. While he was talking, I was so touched that I even teared up. This interaction made me think about the impact that we truly can have in a positive way when we go about traveling the respectful way.

Finally, a major part of my transformation was the relationships I created on this trip. I met so many like-minded individuals that I did not expect to. Everyone was beyond welcoming and understood that we were on this trip together and we were all there for similar reasons. This alone provided comfort that I wasn’t going through this transformation of thought alone. These relationships generated different discussions about our own cultures and values we held from where we all came from. A lot of us talked about how easy it was to see parallels about what we were learning and doing to our own lives back home and what we could change about them. Through learning about each other the way we did, we created lifelong bonds and changed each other’s perspective about many things. For that, I am beyond thankful.

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life?

I find this transformation to be extremely valuable for my life in all aspects. Through my experience with the GIVE Volunteers Program, thanks to STEP, I have gained countless priceless information and experiences that I otherwise probably would not have. After I got home from my trip, I was sad that it was over. I then realized that I could use everything I learned on the trip back home and while I am at school at Ohio State. I learned the true importance of community and coming together to create positive change in not only the world we live, but the world future generations shall live in as well. This trip made me discover a passion I never fully realized was there. Moving forward, I would love to go on future volunteer trips and continue spreading knowledge I have learned while continuing to learn as I go.