As a college freshman, I always envisioned spending my spring break with my best friends somewhere warm and somewhere with water. However, when opportunity comes knocking, you open the door, so that's exactly what I did, and I do not regret my decision whatsoever.

I'm in a service fraternity called Alpha Phi Omega. The president, Kayla, and I were eating dinner with a potential new member of our service fraternity when she mentioned the spring break trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The conversation went a something like this: words, words, words, Gatlinburg, words, volunteer, words, words, spring break, words, and more words. Then she asked me if I was interested. I immediately thought "heck yeah," but quickly remembered I had already made spring break plans with my two best friends, somewhere warm and somewhere with water.

As I walked back to my dorm, I called my mom and I told her about the pickle I was in. She advised I talk to my friends, so I hung up the phone and walked into my friends' room and told them about the opportunity. I stressed the fact that I had already made plans with them and I wasn't going to back out unless they didn't mind. They both told me they didn't mind and to seize the amazing opportunity that fell into my lap. I couldn't believe it, I was going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to volunteer over spring break. I probably asked them about 100 times just to make sure they didn't mind. My mom always said true friends are friends who want what's best for you and who support you. That is exactly what my best friends did in this situation, and exactly what they do in all situations, which I'm forever grateful for.

Now that you know the back story, we can get to the point: why? Why did I chose to volunteer over my spring break? Why did I chose volunteering, hiking more than 28 miles, lugging 15 pounds of mulch around, digging a 12-inch-deep and 150-feet-long ditch, lopping, de-berming, and sleeping in a bear shelter over the "normal" spring break? When I put it that way, I have no idea, but my spring break in Gatlinburg was much more than that.

Before the spring break trip, I had never even been on a hike before, but now I can say my first hike was a 15-mile hike with a 35-pound backpack. Before the spring break trip, if someone had asked me what a pulaski was, I would have looked at them as if they were speaking an unknown language, but now I can say they call me "the destroyer" because I can break a rock in half with a pulaski. Before the spring break trip, I did not know six of the eight girls, but now I can say I have five more friends and one more best friend, who I think I was destined to meet on this spring break trip. I chose to volunteer over my spring break because I learned that taking risks is necessary and beneficial. My freshman year in college has included some risky decisions such as shaving my head, declaring a major and minor, choosing my "home" as far as sororities are concerned, and each risk I took was necessary and benefits myself as a person every single day.

In addition, I chose to volunteer over my spring break because I strongly believe my purpose in life is to give back to the community. Although I'm giving back to the community, the feeling I get from serving gives back to me in a way I cannot describe in any other words, but appreciative, joyful, and rewarded. So technically I chose to volunteer over my spring break for my personal satisfaction because there is nothing more satisfying than making a difference.

All in all, my spring break trip really pushed me and the other girls, often to what we thought were our breaking points, but together we survived, and in the end we all made a positive impact on parts of the Appalachian Trail that runs through Tennessee. I do not regret my decision to volunteer over my spring break, and I hope to make volunteering over my spring break a tradition.