The Office of Campus Engagement and Leadership recently traveled to Washington, D.C. with a team of students for the sixth annual ‘UNCP in DC’ alternative fall break trip.

The travel program is designed to provide students with an in-depth look into various leadership topics presented through four pre-trip workshops that connect to experiences while in D.C. 

“This trip is a great experience for students to learn about the practice of leadership in an immersive way. Not only are students challenged to think about concepts of leadership based on the material covered in the workshops and its connections to the museums we visit, they are challenged by the experience of being in a new, and often, unfamiliar place where they have to think more critically about what they know and how they directly apply it,” explained Bethany Wendler, associate director of Campus Engagement and Leadership.

While traveling to the nation’s capital, students were able to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery. 

The alternative fall break experience allowed students to learn and practice civic responsibility through social responsibility, communication through advocating for a point of view, group dynamics through creating change, interpersonal interactions through others contributions, learning and reasoning through systems thinking, and personal behaviors through responding to change.

“Overall, I am very grateful to have the opportunity to attend [UNCPinDC] because I was able to better understand what it takes to be a leader and that being a leader doesn't necessarily mean being the top person with all the answers. A leader is someone that is willing to ask for help and collaborate with others to create, promote and achieve change in their community. A leader is for the people and not for themselves,” explained UNCP student Clavaria Jefferys.