"You’ve never known true pain until your thumb has been crushed flat by a hammer. And when that hammer is held by a young girl on her first mission trip to help others during a summer break, it might be hard to convince her to return. But for me, traumatized thumbs and all, every summer and spring break of high school has been spent in another state, on another mission, helping those in need and discovering new parts of myself every step of the way. 

Uncovering hidden potential, healing scars from past trauma, we’ve all been there, but this time it was in reference to a house. Hurricane Florence was not kind to those living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The millions of dollars in damage due to floods and horrendous winds seemed so small in comparison to the emotional impact that it had on the residents. One family in particular reached out for help through their church, so our youth group jumped at the chance to make Myrtle Beach, South Carolina our mission trip destination that summer in 2017. Our goal specifically was to build a new home for that family who had lost theirs to the hurricane. 

Spending the summer in the South was no walk in the park for this Midwestern girl, and I remember vividly leaving each workday in sweat-drenched T-shirts and jeans covered in mud. Through the heat and construction sawdust, the smiles and laughter from all of my crewmates around me made it so much easier to take charge when the days became rough. As a natural organizer, I made it my personal agenda to make sure that everyone was getting enough to drink and that those who were younger than me knew how to use certain equipment to keep safety foremost, eventually running through a mental safety checklist as we began each day. 

Nail by nail and board by board, we worked to build an entirely new home on the same foundation where it had once stood. The family that had started this all showed their gratitude by bringing us food and checking in periodically throughout the days. With cuts down my arms, splinters in my fingers, and mud caked to my pants, I was finally able to take a step back and admire our hard work on the final day of that trip. On the day of the reveal, I shed tears alongside the family as we admired their new beachhouse cottage. Their hugs and gratitude are something that will stick with me for a lifetime, as a lesson of the impact a small action of leadership can have on a life. I brought home a collection of shells from that trip as a physical reminder of that lesson.

Those summers, especially the summer spent rebuilding the hurricane house, were simultaneously building a foundation within me that I know will carry me through college. Beyond building a work ethic outside the classroom, seeing the gratitude in their eyes as they brought us dinner each night also gave me a foundation of hope. In the future, you’ll likely find me writing the next great American novel in between freelancing gigs. But beside me on my writing desk will be that same collection of Myrtle Beach shells. I always want to keep a reminder close by to continue building my foundation, to weather any storm that may come my way."