New Orleans

My first time for quite a few things. "Thrill a minute" is how I describe this city. Read more

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Trip start
July 29, 2021
New Orleans Traveler
Learning About Myself as a Leader
July 29, 2021 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
What are you hoping to learn about yourself as a leader on this trip?

In my experience as a leader, I've been a part of many projects, but they have all been smaller scale in the bigger picture of things. Not to say that what I've done is small, but to say that there are things much larger in the world I have yet to be a part of. Coming to this city, I wanted to learn how I function and what I can provide in these larger-scale projects. The change of the buildings, people, and overall setting around me really helped me immerse myself in this unfamiliar place. After landing and getting on our first bus, I thought to myself, "This is the place I can help make a difference in." The service work I could be a part of in this place would help show to me the needs of other parts of the world, needs that people may be less concerned about in the places I've already done service work, like Winfield and Medicine Lodge. I joined this trip and class because It is all very new and unfamiliar to me, and by exposing myself to all these new and unfamiliar things, I could make myself more equipped to handle and understand unique and strange leadership situations I've never faced, like a different urgency to my work, the people I may encounter and potentially lead, and belive me, there were some unique and colorful people in New Orleans. This trip is the perfect learning experience for people like me, people with a very small world view.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
New Experiences in NOLA
July 29, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
What about being in NOLA is a new experience for you?

I could go on for hours about this question! Honestly, It felt as if every second there was something new happening. Everyone who I was with on this trip heard me say the words: "Thrill a minute," more than a few times. First of all, flying was my first new experience. Cramming together with my friends and strangers on a giant sky bus was the highlight of my year. The shaking of turbulence is a unique experience and the naps I caught on the plane were unlike any other, and I know my naps. Getting out of the airport in Louisiana was about the same as the others, but once we loaded into the normal land bus, there were trees and buildings I had only seen in pictures before. Something as simple as going to an Air B&B or using public transportation was completely foreign to me. I made it a point to throw myself feet first into everything new and interesting, no matter how small or large it was. Getting on the plane and laughing myself pink because of how strange it was that a bipedal land creature like me saw the top of clouds, paying a stranger to ride in their car, paying a different stranger to stay in their house for some amount of time, these are things that seem completely crazy to my small-town-brain. I saw a clash of different characters roam the streets dressed in a fashion police misdemeanor. I ate meats from strange creatures smothered in a sauce or seasoning that I absolutely need in my fridge or pantry. The shameless attitudes of street folk were all spectacles to see. This city is exactly how I say; "Thrill a minute."Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Historic Building
July 29, 2021 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 29 °C
One of the selling points of New Orleans is the history there. It can be found present in the interesting architecture. Many buildings are that of French architecture from when they were occupied here.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
City of Adventure
July 29, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Kouzes and Posner suggest exemplary leaders should “treat every job as an adventure.” What have you learned about how to do this on this trip?

While on this trip, I really did feel like everything was an adventure. From the moment I set foot in the airport, I was doing something new. After that, everything I did continued to be new. With so much being new and exciting, it made the trip much more enjoyable and I allowed myself to be open to any opportunity. On our work days, I saw them as adventures too, because of how excited I was just to be there. The work I did was new and exciting stuff that I had never done before. Overall, I learned that if you allow yourself to be open to new experiences and be ready to do something new, these new experiences can be adventurous. One thing that turns people away from doing service work is the second word; work, but If you see the product of your work or see your work as something exciting and adventurous, you see it less as work and more as a project. I think that the word "adventure" is an attractive word that really catches peoples' attention and for a good reason too. I joined this class and went along with this trip because I knew it was going to be an adventure, and I've got much more than what I thought I was signing up for. I learned about the rich history of the city, the uniqueness of it, and some of the problems it faces and how I, as a leader, can help.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Service Work in New Orleans
July 30, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
What about the service experience is different than the service we do on the team at home?

Here at home, we do a lot of service work that is more tailored to smaller groups. As in, we do work that will directly help people we may know. While we were in New Orleans, the service work that we did was for people absolutely none of us knew. The people in charge of the organizations we paired with probably also didn't know everyone they helped individually. The work they do is for a much broader group of people. Similarly, we worked with people and organizations we were not familiar with before. Here on the leadership team, it is made a point for us to all become familiar with each other and build bonds over a course of years. In New Orleans, we became familiar with our fellow servant leaders over the course of a day. The work we did in New Orleans was also for people with different needs than we usually have worked with here in Winfield. We started work reconstructing houses made unlivable by a natural disaster we wouldn't find anywhere near Kansas. I'm sure most of us on the leadership team have done at least minor reconstruction, but not for the same reasons we did it in New Orleans. On our second day of work, we helped get groceries to families in need. This is a common community service practice, but I had never done this one before. It was fascinating to see so many people work an individual part of the system we were all a part of.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Understanding Alice in New Orleans
July 30, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
In regards to the NOLA leader that you researched, what did you learn while we were in NOLA that helped you understand him or her in more depth?

My leader from New Orleans was Alice Dunbar Nelson. She was a newspaper editor, poet, musician, and teacher. She was also a woman of color in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. While in New Orleans, I saw a plethora of artistic expressions. I could hardly turn the corner without seeing another jazz band, street artist, or street performer. When we took our steamboat tour on the steamboat Natchez, the art followed us out there in the form of a jazz band. I learned that this city was all about expression and I understood why Alice decided to pick up a pen and paper. The city of New Orleans was also the perfect place for her line of work as an activist journalist. New Orleans is a city full of injustice and crime. It was very common to hear police sirens nearby or encounter an ex-convict. The prison there, Angola Prison, is know for its incredibly high prisoner count and cruel treatment. It makes sense that people who live in a city housing cruelty like that would try and make a difference. Everywhere in New Orleans you could find passionate people, people passionate about their work or creative doings. Yes, you can find passion anywhere, but in this city, you could see passion up close and everywhere. Alice often wrote about passion, whether in a romantic sense, or in the sense of her work. Everyone who has been a part of that city, including Alice, is full of passion.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Me and the Boys
July 30, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Only three boys from the leadership team went on this trip. We are severely outnumbered, so during the trip we often stuck together. We planned matching outfits with shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and flat caps. A real tourist fashion staple. I grew closer with Justin and Carson on this trip, forming some friendships I think will last a lifetime.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
The Leadership Team
July 30, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Of all the photos taken on the trip, these two are definitely my favorites. Not because of any flashy lights and colors, but because of the moment it was taken. In this photo, everyone was settling down for dinner. There were so many different conversations happening at once, I couldn't keep track. The room was filled with the dull roar of everyone talking to each other and unwinding after a long day. These photos remind me that these are all the people I love. These are the people I work with, see every day, and help me improve myself as a person and leader. These are all some of my bestest friends.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Act of Leadership
July 30, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Describe one act of a servant leader that you have witnessed in NOLA

While in New Orleans I watched one leader work diligently day in and day out, Delainey Clum, our local neighborhood busy body. On this trip, she constantly worked away at one thing; the trip experience for everyone else. You could say she did one act of servant leadership, but she did many more than that. The one act that stands out to me was her working on the trip. Every night one could find her on her computer, sending emails out to make sure everything went smoothly and according to plan. She certainly had some punches to roll with, but she made the best of it. On our first day of service work, things were cut short due to miscommunications with the organization. This was quite the damper in our plans, and I could only imagine how she felt, but she kept the trip going and adapted. When news broke that our free day would be rainy all day, Deliany rearranges our schedules so that we could all have a chance at seeing the city and having our free time. I'd say her adaptability and hard work can be described as challenging the process because the process sure challenged her. On my LPI leadership graph, my lowest quality is challenging the process. Seeing someone excell in it so much makes me want to improve it, to work just as hard as she did at it.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Leadership in New Orleans: Ellie
July 31, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
As great as the Southwestern College leadership team is, we were only a few of many leaders in New Orleans. On our different service work days, we met a few other leaders, one of which was Ellie. Ellie was one of the people who is a part of the organization that helped distribute food to families in need in New Orleans. While working with her, she personified some of the greatest qualities of a leader, but one really stood out to me, encouraging the heart. She made sure that at the end of the day, we all were aware of the effects our work had done that day. She told us we distributed c~10,170 lbs of food to over 300 families. Since Ellie is a leader, she is a part of the leadership system. In this system, she a leader, the volunteers and the Southwestern College Leadership Team students were the followers, feeding families in need and providing them with resources was the change trying to be facilitated, and some of the contextual factors were poverty levels of New Orleans and the lift of the CDC's Eviction Moratorium. In New Orleans, about 25% of the population is in poverty, struggling to make ends meet and often deciding between bills to pay. The Eviction Moratorium was put in place by the CDC so that people affected by the Covid 19 pandemic financially could not be evicted from their homes, but on August 1st 2021, it was lifted, meaning some people would face eviction. All these factors added to the need that Ellie and the rest of this team were trying to remedy.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Encourage the Heart
July 31, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Talk about one contextual factor in the NOLA leadership system and what you learned while we were in NOLA that helped you understand that factor in more depth?

In the city of New Orleans, it seems almost impossible to stay encouraged to make a difference because it almost seems like you can't. That should not discourage leaders though, it simply presents a new and larger challenge to overcome. While there, I saw how big the issues there were. I often saw people on the street in a place in life where they had to ask for money. I also saw the houses that became unlivable due to hurricane Katrina. These are some of the biggest issues in New Orleans and they are very severe. Seeing how bad it is is a little discouraging, making you feel like you can't help at all, but I saw leaders and organizations that, no matter how small, were still trying to make a difference. While working with the Lower Nine organization, there were five people from the organization and about twenty of us all working for a short amount of time to help reconstruct unlivable homes. It almost seems crazy having a bunch of college kids with varying experiences work on a house to make it liveable again, but what work we were able to accomplish was that much more than what was already done. The Lower Ninth organization has already rebuilt 90 homes which may not seem like much, but the people from the organization seem to be proud of it. While scouting their website, I found photos of the families helped by the organization. As much as we all wish we could help all the families impacted, it's difficult work for a small group of people. I learned while there that, even a small difference is more of a difference than before and you shouldn't let yourself get discouraged by how large an endeavor may seem.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Challenge the Process
July 31, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
AGAIN-In regards to the contextual factors, talk about one (which of course if not the one you just talked about) and what you learned while we were in NOLA that helped you understand that factor in more depth?

On my LPI chart, my lowest leadership quality is challenging the process, so I had hoped going to NOLA I'd learn a thing or two about it, and I sure did. As I mentioned before, you can't let yourself become discouraged when a problem seems overwhelming or too large, that's encouraging the heart, the step after that is challenging the process, finding a way to take on this challenge in a new way. While we were working with Ellie and her team distributing groceries, there were challenges that the team faced before the day began. Ellie informed us that in previous years, there have been disputes that broke out over people who did not sign up to get groceries trying to get in line and the overall size of the line itself. To combat the first issue, they implemented the numbers on the car windows of approved families to make sure the people who signed up get what they need. As for the second issue, the line for the grocery pick up became so large that the team needed to move their site to an entirely new location where traffic wouldn't be such an issue. At the end of the day, we all packed up everything in a U-Haul and unloaded it at their new location to remedy their line issue. Being adaptive and creative are two things a leader needs to challenge the process, and I think I learned something from the team.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Mississippi River Steamboat
July 31, 2021 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
I've been on boats before and seen my fair share of murky rivers, but the Mississippi has a history to it, being able to see it up close and personal was something I had hoped to do before we even arrived.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
House of Pepper Hot Sauce Tasting Bar
July 31, 2021 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
Of all the places in New Orleans I could've visited, I found myself a regular at this hot sauce tasting bar. While there, I picked up some good sauces and even a New Orleans-styled cooking apron.
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New Orleans Traveler
Breakfast in Jackson Square
August 1, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
After visiting Cafe du Monde, we all sat down at some benches in Jackson Square. While we drank our coffee and at beignets, we were approached by some friendly feathered characters. They seemed to love the beignets.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Cafe du Monde
August 1, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
When learning about New Orleans, it almost seemed like every day I heard about Cafe du Monde and their famous beignets. After stopping there for breakfast beignets, I thought to myself "Oh yeah, I can totally make these." I will get around to making them... eventually.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Crazy City
August 1, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Around every corner here was always something exciting in the form of a person doing something completely crazy. It really adds to the theme of "thrill a minute." In this photo, there is a man bathing in a fountain outside of the cathedral. When I walked past, I knew I couldn't not get a photo.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Statues Galore
August 1, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
More history here. In New Orleans, they have some interesting statues dotting the city. These are just a couple of the many statues in the city. These two are actually relatively close to one another with the first being in Jackson square and the other found just outside next to the Mississippi River.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
Crazy Eats
August 2, 2021 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 28 °C
New Orleans is right next to the Gulf of Mexico, so it makes sense that they have a lot of really good seafood. In Kansas, it's difficult to get good seafood being landlocked so far away from the ocean. At Oceana Bar and Grill, I found some rather interesting food. Whole crabs. These are entire softshell crabs and they are the reason I will return to New Orleans one day.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
New Orleans in Retrospect
August 2, 2021 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 25 °C
What kind of influence will this trip have on you as a leader? (Reference the developmental opportunities that travel has on shaping leadership)

This trip was my first for a lot of things, almost everything I did there I had never done before, from flying in a plane to eating crazy foods. I'll always remember this trip and I credit a lot of my personal and leadership development to it. While there, I was able to immerse myself in a new culture. Despite New Orleans still being in America, I could confidently say I wasn't in Kansas anymore. This city couldn't be any more different than what I've seen of the country. Looking around, I could see people living wildly different lives than my own, and as a leader, I have to have experience meeting and working with people different than myself. The teams and people we worked with all had their own motivations for doing what they do, and understanding that about a person helped me as a leader understand more about the people I work with and how to inspire a shared vision with them. Everyone has their own story, and listening to someone else's and understanding it is something that leaders should do, and there seemed to be a new story to hear every minute in New Orleans, whether about a history lesson on Angola prison or the story of how a nonprofit organization came to be. At the end of the day, I think that of all places to enhance my leadership skills at, New Orleans was the perfect place to go, with the wide variety of cultures, ideas, unique problems, and most of all, people.Read more
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New Orleans Traveler
A Farewell
August 3, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
I was never really one for photos like this because it seems like everyone who gets on a plane takes one that's almost exactly the same. However, I couldn't help take it. The swampland underneath was just too interesting. I also needed a "farewell" photo. All the fun and excitement of New Orleans is behind me now, but all the memories and bonds made there will always be with me. I left New Orleans behind, but came home with new friends and 4 bottles of hot sauce.Read more
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Trip end
August 3, 2021