Students experience ‘pivotal’ moments on service trip

“There is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone,” Mr. Jeff Wenzler, founder and executive director of the non-profit organization, Pivotal Directions, states that is a quote he lives by. Mr. Wenzler started this organization with the help of a couple of local dads who saw their sons needed some perspective. The growing organization has been in existence for three and a half summer seasons and has taken over 150 teens and adult volunteer leaders overseas for service leadership trips.

Pivotal Directions’ mission statement is “to seek to transform the lives of youth through character and leadership development, engaging students in the service-learning process throughout the world.” They travel to a garbage-dump community in Kingston, Jamaica and Guatemala to do several acts of service for eight days. Prior to these eight days, the group of kids that sign up meet many months ahead to not only logistically prepare, but emotionally and mentally prepare as well, Mr. Wenzler explains.

Going on service trips should be, and is, a different experience for everyone. Finding your most pivotal moment is what makes servant leadership programs so special and unique. Mr. Wenzler experienced his most pivotal moment when he lived in Guatemala for six months, years before the organization started. He moved there at the age of 20, after his brother tragically died in his arms on his birthday. In that moment he realized how life is very short, which influenced him to move to Guatemala and teach Kindergarten in a mountain village, where they didn’t speak English. This experience changed his life and is said to be his most pivotal moment.

So what makes something a pivotal moment? Josie Schaut, sophomore, has gone on the Pivotal Direction Jamaica trip the past two summers. Schaut explains what a pivotal moment means to her, “To me, a pivotal moment does not necessarily happen at once, for me the entire week was my pivotal moment because I learned something new and saw something incredibly powerful everyday. The trip helped me realize how lucky I am to have the things I have and how I need to use those things to help others that don’t have them. The trip really set me up for a life of service and leadership and I am so grateful to have gone two times.”

Homestead High School graduate and now student at The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hayden Braaten, was one of the two founding boys who attended the very first Pivotal Direction trip to Jamaica when he was in ninth grade. Braaten describes his time in Jamaica as, “A life changing, pivotal experience. In the sweltering Jamaican heat, we navigated our way into the center of Kingston, Jamaica–Riverton City Dump. There I saw some of the poorest living conditions I could possibly imagine. From these conditions I learned the true meaning of happiness through the positive attitudes of the people. Overall, I had an excellent time, and afterwards I felt more fulfilled than after any trip I had ever taken.”

Pivotal Directions has made such a difference in the lives of people they serve in Jamaica and Guatemala. Everyday of their trip, they do a variety of tutoring, recreation, feeding those who are disabled, painting, minor construction work, and delivering lunches to shut-ins. The special thing about these trips is that at the same time the lives of the people who are serving change as well. Sarah Lundeen, senior, said, “It was a wonderful and eye-opening experience. A pivotal moment, to me, is a spark of change or inspiration that can be left unnoticed if one does not reflect on their experiences.”

All of these pivotal moments the kids and Mr. Wenzler have experienced have lived up to the name of Pivotal Directions. To Mr. Wenzler, volunteering should be fun and adventurous and that everyone should look at life as multiple directions and possibilities. Mr. Wenzler expressed, “My dream is to increase the number of ‘pivotal’ moments one person at a time. Join our family and enjoy the ride.”