Something that I have noticed more and more as we go about the year here at Impact 360 is how intentional everything here is. From the week we went backpacking across the Alabama Mountains to each week’s school assignments, there is a purpose for everything that takes place when it does. I didn’t truly realize how intentionally timed things were here until after our Alumni Service Weekend was held this past weekend.
Alumni service weekend is a 2-day event that exists to allow past Impact 360 alumni to meet and have fellowship with current Impact 360 students as we all serve together throughout the community here in South Georgia. Alumni Service Weekend began Friday afternoon as alumni from the past Impact 360 classes rolled back onto campus and moved into the dorms of students here for the night. It was a fun, relaxed night with food, games, and a lot of hanging out. Saturday was the best part as we woke up at the crack of dawn, had breakfast, and then rushed out into the community in our respective groups to start our work.
Everyone had been divided into various groups that went to different places. Some of the opportunities we were able to get involved in were helping out with a 5K Color Run, pressure washing Callaway Garden docks, preparing food for several pantries, and a few others things. It was a long enjoyable Saturday, and it was wonderful to be able to help out people in our surrounding community.
So what does this have to do with intentionality? Well, as we as current Impact 360 students get closer and closer to the end of the year and moving on to the next stage of our own lives, we have realized that leaving this closely-knit community may be in fact, pretty challenging. Questions have started to pop up like, “What will it be like going from a school of 40 to a school of 35,000 in the fall, especially into a secular school and with people we don’t know?” Yes it’s going to be a challenge, but now we know that we aren’t alone. The alumni of Impact 360 are the only people that have gone through what we are about to go through and have experienced what that process is like. This weekend was all about the idea of the alumni pouring into current students, giving us ideas and thoughts on how to best go about seeking Christian community in our schools in the fall. It is great to be able to pick the minds of these past students and get to know them, gaining a sense of the reality of the challenge ahead and how to face it practically. After this weekend, we can move into the next stages of our lives with a new confidence that we will not be alone. We not only have the community of current students alongside us, but also the new community we have formed with the alumni.
Photos by Anna Brown.