Departure & a Safe Arrival!

Andrew Wykowski: Hello everyone, this will be the start of our blog and I would really like to introduce myself my name is Andrew Wykowski I am the only student leader on this trip. I am a junior and this will be my fifth trip as a student at Villanova and the second time I will be leading a trip (last semester I lead a trip to San Diego, California). I am a student with two separate disabilities I broke my neck and was fully paralyzed at the age of 16, however, I have been very fortunate to have had a great recovery. As an elementary school student, I was diagnosed with dyslexia believing that it would never be possible for me to go to college. Today like every day I woke up for a break trip having this nervous energy for this unknown reason about what will happen during the time will traveling or during the experience. I was so excited I was unable to sleep during the whole ride a million things were flying through my brain, but the most important thing was how was everyone else feeling. Yeah, ten hours of driving is boring to anyone, but if you pay attention to what the other people are doing, it's not so bad. The first thing we did was head to Rocky Creek ranch an amazing 528-acre ranch that helps people who are dealing with a variety of mental disabilities. The look on everyone’s face while exploring the farm was just awe and it gave me an incredible feeling inside. What was an even better feeling was watching the joy that everyone had while we were out to dinner at a local pizza place. The talking and the laughter was contagious. It was an amazing site to see, but an even better set up to a week that should be amazing. Hopefully, everyone will be able to grow during the experience both in ways they expect and do not expect as well in ways that they might not understand until later in life. This open energy and excitement that the group has brought to the trip has made me incredibly excited to see what they will be able to do both as individuals and as a collective group. Albert Einstein once said, “Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.” As some of these people may be your sons or daughters or loved ones, no matter your connection to the trip I would like to thank you the beautiful contribution that you have given to us as a group whether it be by gracing us with the presence of you amazing children or loved one, or by donating your time or money, or if you send out this blog to just one more person to spread the word about inclusivity. You have given us a beautiful gift and I want to thank you for that, and I ask you to keep updated with this blog as well as share it with those who you think might benefit from it. As a group, we hope to learn to see the beautiful gift of nature. We hope to bring you along for the ride with us as well! We hope that this blog is able to impact you in some way. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to ready this and please keep reading. They say life is all about the little things so I hope today you can find a little thing that bring you joy.