Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains changed his life. This year’s One Book, One Northwestern selection led Weinberg sophomore Alex Lubben down his path to pre-med.
“The book really showed how you can directly go and help people, and I felt I could best do that through medicine,” he said.
The English major added the pre-med track this past fall. Kidder’s journey showed Lubben, who was previously headed for law school, how a career in the medical field could provide direct assistance in ways he had not considered.
Yet, Lubben’s desire to serve did not solely stem from reading a book. He is a long time international servant.
Beginning the summer after his freshman year in high school, Lubben journeyed to Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with an organization called Bridges to Community. The New York-based organization focuses on community development by bringing groups of volunteers to live in materially poor communities.
During the one week trip, Lubben joined a diverse group of people to focus on the construction segment of Bridges to Community’s service. Each team built two 15-by-15 foot, one room homes with cedar block walls, tin roofs and tile floors — a major difference from the sheet metal homes that existed prior to their arrival. After this first experience, he continued to travel to Nicaragua the summers following each year of high school.
A native of Westchester County, New York, Lubben said his first trip to Nicaragua at age 15 completely changed his outlook, and he wants others to have that experience.
“Real poverty isn’t on the level you see it in the United States that you see in a country like Nicaragua,” Lubben said. “This experience is really transformative. The leaders know how to elicit a response. The hardest part of the trip for me was coming home.”
Reading Mountains Beyond Mountains only further convinced Lubben in his plans — beginning last June — to initiate a trip to Nicaragua immediately after finals week Spring quarter. The trip to the Central American country is through GreekBuild, which is a collaboration between Greek organizations and Habitat for Humanity; it is the first extended abroad program through GreekBuild. Even though it is geared toward Greek students, Lubben said all students are welcome to join.
The trip costs about $2,000, but with fund raising and flight deals, Lubben predicts it will be about $1,300 per person. He has already raised $3,300 through a website called First Giving and donations from his parents’ friends.
Lubben said he hopes for the trip to be a retreat.
Initial deposits for the trip were due Feb. 20, but for students who want to attend, Lubben said to contact him immediately.
“I have a goal of 15 people, but that’s not most important,” Lubben said. “As long as five people go, then come back and talk it up and get three of their friends to go next year,” he said.