When it comes to school organizations, you may join because you care about the cause or have the same interests that the organization is centered around. 

Joining these organizations can help with networking, making lifelong friendships and getting involved with the group’s activities on or off-campus. 

Some of these organizations may give you the opportunity to travel out of town to participate in an off-campus activity. 

I know what you’re thinking: Traveling costs time and money. While that is correct, there are some organizations that will help you with those costs. 

Many organizations will help you with costs, like food, hotel stays and some will even reimburse you for gas if you are driving yourself and others out of town. 

I would advise you to also save up your own money for out-of-pocket costs, such as food you buy separately. 

I have recently gone on two trips with Wichita State’s Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity (URGE) chapter, and Feminists On and Off Campus Uniting Students (FOCUS). 

I went to advocacy day in March in Topeka, Kansas, to speak with local representatives on harmful bills being passed in our state legislature. 

Most recently, I went to Lawrence, Kansas, with FOCUS to attend seminars on various topics, such as reproductive justice, racial issues, LGBTQ issues and helping the chapter plan out the semester. 

While on those trips, I networked with those that work in URGE both state and nationwide. I also visited two new places I had never been to before. 

When traveling with an organization, you can also learn a lot from these trips. For example, you can learn a little bit more about your own state’s history.

I recently learned about the town of Nicodemus, Kansas, which happens to be the oldest and only surviving Black settlement area west of the Mississippi River, which is something I was never taught in any of my history classes in middle or high School.

Going on these trips can also help you grow closer to your fellow members as friends. I went to both Topeka and Lawrence with one of the executive members of FOCUS, and I felt like I recently grew closer to this person. I found out that we had a lot more in common beyond our involvement with the group. 

If your organization poses an opportunity to travel out of town for an activity off campus, take it. There’s loads of opportunities waiting for you, such as meeting new people and stepping out of your comfort zone.