I can be a very wasteful person. We all can be wasteful people. The thing we waste most often is not food, money or any material object. I believe that the thing we waste the most is time, and the easiest time to waste is vacation. UrbanPromise works hard to make sure they do not have wasted time. Each Spring Break they take a trip called the College Vision and Civil Rights Tour. They take a Sophomores and Juniors in high school from the StreetLeader program and the Academy. This year the trip was outstanding. The crew that went was a very interesting piece of the trip. There were eight students and two staff; half attend the Academy students and half attend public school, boys vs. girls was split in half, as well as other separations that we cannot see. We had every reason to be divided, but for some reason we weren’t. I really saw God in the unity that we had. There were not many arguments or fights and overall everybody had a good attitude. There was a peace that we as humans just can’t achieve on our own. That is tough especially after being in a car for hours and getting to your hotel at nine, ten or even eleven every night.
The people that went on the trip weren’t the only interesting thing. We got to see colleges big and small, we had the opportunity to ask college students about real college life, and we got to see people we knew, like Jada and Imani who are former StreetLeaders. It was encouraging to see them make it to places they’ve been told they never would. It’s kind of hard to explain that feeling in words. We went to Virginia Union, North Carolina A&T, Johnson C. Smith University, Old Dominion University, Delaware State University, and Clark Atlanta University. The tour guides were interesting and you could tell that they were invested in their respective colleges and demonstrated some real school spirit. It made the schools we visited seem welcoming.
We also visited the Georgia Aquarium, the Billy Graham Library, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, NC, Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, and some garden that I can’t remember the name of. We got to see history at the museums, and in many ways we saw what makes our history as African Americans unique. We didn’t see the injustices so that we could hold grudges, but so we could remember. We saw nature at the aquarium and at the nature park we visited. It served as a reminder of the beauty of natural plant life. Last but not least, we saw God in multiple places. We saw God at the Billy Graham Museum, at the garden, at the Civil Rights Museums and just in the trip in general. Without God the trip would’ve been a disaster. Thanks to the prayers and financial support for this trip and the other spring break trips. Not only did we have a good time, but God watched over us every step of the way and allowing us to make it home safely.
-Bryce Dixon
UrbanPromise Academy ’20
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