Urban Expedition Memoir

By Tristan Jackson-Brown

Midtown Academy, 8th grade

Awesome, fun, new, different—these are the things going through my mind on my Urban Expedition trip. The Urban Expedition challenged our problem-solving, endurance and self-sufficiency to the fullest. All of our daily schedule and activities were based on our leadership skills. For example, when we chose jobs, everyone had a job, so no one felt left out. Our jobs were cooks, leaders, navigators and LNT’s (leave no trace). These jobs showed leadership because they required responsibility to a team to complete your job each day.

A major reason for me to go on the trip and participate was to broaden my “comfort zone.” If you’re like me, you’re wondering what the heck “comfort zone” means. Well, a “comfort zone” is where you feel comfortable with yourself. For example, I felt that my “zone” is around areas I know well in Baltimore or in my home with my parents. With help from my instructors and classmates, my “comfort zone” is now Baltimore City, and I now feel comfortable around areas with different people I don’t know. I can say, this trip changed me in a good way.          

Our day-to-day schedule was pretty tough for me. We had to wake up around 6:00 a.m., get dressed and meet in our daily morning circle. Personally, I’m not used to getting up at 6:00, but the trip helped me adjust that. From our circle, we would eventually move on to “stretch circles,” where we would do warm-up stretches to get ready for a new day. After that, we chose jobs, and once jobs were chosen, the cooks made the group breakfast. Our diet consisted mostly of healthy foods to help our bodies become faster and stronger for a day of work.

After breakfast, we had to perform a service for the place we slept in. For example, we would clean up the place we slept in or do gardening around the area. After our service, we would move on to our next sleep spot. This was the hard part because we had to walk. I know it sounds crazy that walking is such a bad thing, but while on our urban expeditions, we had to carry our mats, clothes, cooking utensils and sleeping bags—so our bags were 40 pounds. They made us stronger, so no complaints.

This taught me that everything, in the end, like strength and accomplishment, comes at a price.

I highly recommend going on the expedition. It helps with endurance and broadens your education. My expedition was awesome. Everyone respected each other and showed gratitude when helped. The trip also helped me get to know my peers more than I could ever expect. If you haven’t gone yet, go—and have fun!