Wednesday, March 7

Mackenzie Ward:

Today was absolutely my favorite day of our trip so far. I have finished every day feeling good about our accomplishments and excited about continuing to work with everyone, but today felt different. I am beyond proud of all of the work we have been able to complete thus far. Today, I spent a significant portion of my day painting a bench with the “Nova Nation” logo. This piece of LEVEL and the school we represent will stay behind after we leave as a sign of everything we’ve been able to accomplish as a group.  This was only one of the benches that were refurbished. We took worn out benches and transformed them into different themed (mostly animal themed) benches to place along the Discovery Trail.

The best part of my day today was when Matt and I went into one of the pastures to help groom the horses. We met Kona, Scout, and Lad and it was the closest one on one time I’ve had with any of the horses. Matt was initially pretty nervous but as we learned more about the horses and spent more time with them, he grew more accustomed to Scout digging in our pockets for treats. It felt like we took pounds of hair off of the horses while grooming them and it was significantly more difficult than anticipated. I loved learning about their habits and the ways that they are so well taken care of at Rocky Creek Ranch.

I have spent a lot of time reflecting on this trip over the past week. As the only senior here, I have become more and more nostalgic about taking full advantage of my time left with the people in this group and in the whole LEVEL organization. I feel more comfortable with these people than I do with almost any other people in my life. We have come together this week in ways that I never thought possible and I truly believe the root of this is the safe space that LEVEL creates for all students on Villanova’s campus. I am beyond happy I came on this trip and I think that it’s something I’ll look back on as one of the highlights of my college experience.

Justin Bagin:

A couple of weeks ago, I could never imagine sitting down at 8:15 in a Marriott Hotel to have the privilege of experiencing a breakfast date with Mackenzie, our amazing LEVEL President. Within just twenty minutes of talking to each other so early in morning, we had a great conversation that started off yet another lively day. As usual, the van rides to Rocky Creek were quite a huge responsibility for the person with the Aux cord to DJ the music. Today the man himself, Matt Steven rocked the van with a mix from the 70’s to Taylor Swift’s “22.” When we arrived at Rocky Creek, Erica and the staff warmly welcomed us to the ranch hoping that there would be another great day of service from us dedicated LEVEL members! 

Through working on projects involving repairing benches, decorating milk jugs, and creating kaleidoscopes we were able to finish most of our work from yesterday while building even stronger bonds with each other as we spend more time working as a group. With another delicious Subway lunch, we were back out having fun at Rocky Creek making a difference in this community project by project. My personal favorite task we worked on today is the beautifully designed benches with elaborate patterns painted on them. Some of these include a zebra, pig, and even our own Nova Nation bench that will physically leave our mark on the service work. After we finished our projects we headed back to the hotel to relax, eat, and reflect on our day while looking forward to few days we have left!

Andrew Wykowski:

No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.

Francois Muriac

Quotes are something that I feel like guide my life. I wanted to share this with you so you may have a better picture of who I am before reading what I have to say. I think that a good quote can tell a lot about a person.

In my life the most important thing to me has always been friendship. Friends are my family, my life, my everything. I will not lie, many of the people on this trip, I really did not know coming into this trip. I have slow development friendships that I don't think I would have made at Villanova University. The reason why is so many of my the people I have talked to while I was here are not people I see on a day to day basis.

In life we often care too much about self-preservation or this personal image, that we believe that we need to put out, to feel accepted. When you are with your friends you can stretch those boundaries because you feel more comfortable. The bonds formed between us on this trip are super important to creating an impact on each other and leave a mark on the world like Francois says. If we never try to form relationships then they will never come to us because we can never make something worthwhile if we do not work for it.

In my life I have been told a lot and my parents will tell you it always goes in one ear and out the other. The most important thing I have learned is that if you struggle and fight for something that you want it makes it that much sweeter, I still will try to fight to make my relationships stronger with the people on this trip. I think it has been beneficial to me because I know now that no matter what happens when I get back to school, some of the friendships I have made and strengthened here will withstand a lot. I think no matter what else happens I can hang my hat on that and call this trip a success.