Tigers Serve organized a Beyond the Hill experience on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, where a group of ten students explored the Outer Banks and participated in local service projects. Mornings were spent assisting the Hatteras Island Ocean Center, a nature center providing ecological education and preservation; service projects included putting up an Osprey nesting platform, blazing a trail through the salt marsh, and cleaning up debris around the center. Each afternoon the students explored a different aspect of the island—from the Chicamacomico Museum to deep sea fishing.
Reverend Keith Leach ’81 took a Beyond the Hill group of four students to Chavies, Kentucky, to serve with the Appalachian Service Project, a non-profit Christian organization that repairs homes for low-income families in rural Appalachia. The Hampden-Sydney group spent a good portion of the week completely rebuilding the porch stairs to a local family’s home. Brennan Vaught ’21 says he chose to participate because he “felt a calling to go serve a not-so-well-off community in God’s name.”
For the fifth year, Beyond the Hill offered an adventurous trip to Navajo Dam, New Mexico, where sixteen students and alumni fly fished for three days on the San Juan River. In addition to the fishing expeditions, each member spent time reflecting on the experience—what they saw, learned, and experienced and how they will incorporate these takeaways into their daily lives—and building personal connections with each other. “I had the opportunity to explore a beautiful part of the country that was completely new to me, network with Hampden-Sydney alumni, and become friends with several of the guides who helped us meander down the San Juan River. I couldn’t have asked for a better spring break,” says Spell Carr ’20.
Meanwhile, students in a one-credit professional development class ventured to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, to participate in a four-day Disney Institute workshop. The Institute advises and trains a variety of organizations worldwide on the business insights and best practices of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. In addition to daily classes that gave insight to the global entertainment conglomerate’s approach to quality service—such as intentionality; team cohesion; and service philosophy, processes, and policies—daily field expeditions took students behind the scenes to observe the principles and practices discussed in class. While in Florida, the class stayed in the Orlando home of Hampden-Sydney Trustee Robert Citrone ’87, founder of Discovery Capital Management, who also helped sponsor the class.