No student-athlete wants to miss a game. They don't put in the hours lifting weights in the gym or running sprints on the field during practice just to walk up to their coaches and say they won't be around for the game Saturday.
 
That being said, a handful of Gettysburg College student-athletes did exactly that earlier this fall, sacrificing their potential playing time for the greater good and embarking on a five-day trip to Washington, D.C. in October to learn about the impact of homelessness.
 
The trip was part of a freshman seminar called "Homelessness in America" taught by Professor of English Christopher Fee. The excursion has taken place for more than a decade and a half and has involved over 250 students, including many student-athletes.
 
"From the earliest days, many of my best students have been athletes," said Fee. "It is especially heartening when kids who truly love their game make sacrifices to excel in this class, in their local service commitments, and on the five-day trip to D.C. which is almost always a cause of conflict for fall athletes in particular."
 
This year's trip to the nation's capital included freshmen Nick Bradley (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon) from the football team, Lily Melink (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) from women's soccer, Georgia Larzelere (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) from women's cross country, and Reid Gesualdi (Stamford, Conn./King School) from baseball. Bradley was part of another related class taught by Economics Professor Brendan Cushing-Daniels called "The Economics of Poverty" and sought out Fee for a spot on the trip to D.C.
 
Junior Shannon Fletcher (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) from the volleyball team served as the Peer Learning Assistant (PLA) for the class and oversaw much of the day-to-day activities alongside Fee and Jon Allen, Director of Student Activities and Greek Life. Fletcher went on the trip as a first-year student in 2016.
 
For many of the student-athletes and their classmates, the trip to D.C. was an eye-opening experience. Most had only cursory experiences with homelessness either at home or through the media prior to taking Fee's class. That all changed during the five-day trip as the group visited many organizations serving the needs of the nearly 7,000 homeless people in the capital, including DC Central Kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and DC Outfitters.
 
The class didn't just learn about homelessness; they experienced it on many levels. The group stayed in at the Steinbruck Center in the Luther Place Hostel, part of which serves as a shelter for homeless women. Each day, the members of the class would walk from the shelter to their activities, passing by or even engaging with individuals they would see during their work assignments later in the day.
 
"It was really powerful to talk to people that were walking through there that were experiencing homelessness," said Bradley. "At first, you had a mindset of them being potentially dangerous, but that was never the case. They were actually afraid of us or afraid of how they presented themselves to society."
 
For three consecutive mornings, Bradley and his classmates went to the DC Central Kitchen to prepare meals for people in need across the D.C. metropolitan area. The students labored through seemingly mundane tasks like slicing apples or carrying sacks of potatoes for several hours each day, but the realization of how much of an impact those minor tasks made quickly became obvious.
 
"The atmosphere was just happy," noted Bradley. "They made 5,000 meals per day and working from Friday to Tuesday was a lot, but I kept up with my work because of how positive all the people around me were being."
 
For Bradley and his fellow first-years, this was a new experience, but Fletcher was making her second go-around. She only took part in two days of the trip as a freshman so she could return to her volleyball team, but this time around the junior stayed on through the entire trip and received an entirely different viewpoint as she helped guide her slightly younger cohorts.
 
"The experience this year was so much different than my freshman year," said Fletcher. "The biggest thing was the blog (https://feefys2018.wordpress.com/). I was staying up late with them, helping them write their blog posts and taking videos. That was so cool because I got to work one-on-one with all the students in the class and help them realize the impact they were making."
 
In addition to preparing meals at the DC Central Kitchen, the students took bags of clothes to the homeless. More than 20 large garbage bags of items went down with the group and each student carried around two large backpacks full of items to several locations for DC Outfitters. The clothes provided a physical connection, but at the same time the students were making emotional connections by simply starting conversations.
 
"Almost everyone we meet is starved for simple human interaction and meeting these kids can make all the difference in the world to them," said Fee. "You can see faces light up from the simplest interaction. It's one of the main things these students give when they are on the street, and to them of course, it seems like nothing at all because they treat almost everybody like that almost all the time."
 
The "light bulb" went on often for the members of the class, whether it was Melink overcoming early apprehension about engaging the homeless during the DC Outfitters excursion or Gesualdi realizing what impact the American Legion – an organization he is tied to through his baseball exploits – makes on homeless veterans.
 
One particular shining moment involved Bradley. While walking to DC Central Kitchen one day, the group was preparing to cross a busy intersection when they noticed a gentleman in a wheelchair attempting to cross in another direction. The man became stuck midway through his trek as the light changed and traffic resumed its flow, in some cases even swerving around the paused pedestrian.
 
A break in the traffic allowed Bradley to make his move and before anyone could protest, he dashed to the man and offered his help. Both made it across without incident, leading to a sigh of relief from Fee.
 
"As the leader of the group the safety of which was my charge, my heart was in my throat," said the professor. "But as a decent human being who tries to treat other human beings with dignity and respect, I found Nick's actions both heroic and inspiring."
 
For Bradley, the fear of rushing into oncoming traffic was a small hurdle to overcome in the pursuit of helping someone in need.
 
"I would have tried to do that regardless if I was back in Lebanon or back in Gettysburg because it's just the right thing to do," said the first-year.
 
All the student-athletes missed important time with their respective teams, with Bradley, Melink, and Fletcher also giving up potential playing time in games. They knew the sacrifices they would be making and worked out the details with their coaches, all of whom realized the impact this trip could make on their capacity as human beings.
 
"Gettysburg College provides amazing opportunities to get out and have real world experiences," said head football coach Kevin Burke '90. "The student-athletes should take advantage of these opportunities whenever possible by getting out into the community and seeing first-hand the impact they can have."
 
Fletcher has already made plans to serve as the PLA for the trip to the nation's capital next fall, giving up time on the volleyball court during her senior season to provide guidance and support for Fee and his next crop of first-year students, many of whom will likely be giving up their own time on the field or court.
 
"Our students are not simply competitors and champions on the field of play," noted Fee. "These are really fine, top-notch individuals who bring their all to the game of life and leave us all better for having had the privilege of watching them do their best."