In this entry, Cathy Nevins and Mark Doorley detail George Mason University’s alternative spring break program at the Center of Environmental Transformation and how NVWH serves their needs.

On the week of March 9, 2020, 10 visitors from George Mason University (GMU) in northern Virginia will be spending a week at the Center for Environmental Transformation(CFET). This local sister non-profit hosts groups of college and high school students who work at various agencies around the city of Camden, and then reflect on social and environmental issues in the evening.

The Nick Virgilio Writer’s House (NVWH) hosts the Mighty Writers non-profit that works with the children of the Waterfront South neighborhood, developing their writing skills, poetic voices and commitment to their city. GMU students will get a chance to work with the Mighty Writers students twice during the week of March 9th.

First the visitors will come to the Nick Virgilio Writers’ House to work with the children on a project that promises to lead to lots of interesting discussions. Where are you from? What do you like about your hometown? What is your favorite thing to do to have fun? What would you like to see happen in your town? An exploration of these questions, from both the GMU students and the Mighty Writers will provide ample material for everyone to write a poem, or short story or a bit of reporting!

Later in the week, the Mighty Writers will walk down to CFET, to work with the GMU students. They are going to plant peas outside in the Emerald Street garden, and they will learn what the peas need in terms of healthy soil, plenty of sun and water, and tender loving care. Surely there are poems and news reports that will blossom as questions pour out of the Mighty Writers, and their hands get dirty, and they encounter, perhaps, an earth worm or two!

So, what does GMU and NVWH have in common? Well, the visitors from GMU and the children from NVWH will discover so much that they have in common: a hometown they love, families that care for them, dreams about their futures, dirty hands from pea planting and a love for learning about each other and, most importantly, how much alike we all are.