Jack Oppenuizen looked over the group of children sitting in front of him.
They were from different backgrounds, had different physical capabilities and different grade point averages. He raised his voice as the wind began to howl even more wildly than before.
"It's about managing the winds of change," he said. "Both in sailing and in life."
The children looked at him fondly. Their eyes then ventured back to the dock to their right. Four sailboats were tied down, their sails flapping noisily in the wind.
It was a Saturday afternoon at the Tempe Town Lake Marina, a time for Oppenuizen and his group of volunteers to make a difference in these children's lives.
Not just another new club
Oppenuizen, an ASU graduate student taking courses in public affairs, is the president of the Sailing Club at ASU, which was organized on campus last semester. He also heads a non profit volunteer organization known as Voyages Unbound. The organization seeks to build leadership skills through sports.
"It's a way to give back to the community," he said. "We want to see these children's lives influenced for the better. At Voyages Unbound we look at how we can bring the world of academics into sports and make sports better."
Oppenuizen said the club was also currently emphasizing helping ASU students with disabilities learn and grow.
"We want people at ASU that have disabilities to be seen as leaders in the learning community," he said. "We're not just a sports club, but a leadership process as well."
Sailing Club member Jake Geller serves as the group's communications and public relations/marketing specialist. He said they had three main goals.
"Our goals are leadership development, community service and inclusion," he said. "We want any type of person to be able to sail, so we use technology to create a level playing field for those with all abilities."
Technology for life
That technology involves small boats that can hold one to four people. The boats are designed to be able to allow almost any person to sit comfortably and maneuver them.
Oppenuizen said the club was trying to use science to create social impact.
"Through technology we can create a level playing field for all," he said. "We want to teach a sport to people that is a lot of fun and that is something they can take with them for the rest of their lives."
Oppenuizen added that the club was trying to help people be better prepared for the challenges that came in life.
"You don't get what you want in life by going directly there," he said. "You often have to take intermediate steps."
Helping the kids
The non profit organization is currently working with the Madison School District of north central Phoenix to help a variety of children learn leadership skills and grow together as a team.
Oppenuizen said the school district chose 20 children from a wide range of abilities and backgrounds to participate in this pilot program with Voyages Unbound.
A third of the children have disabilities, while another third are from the gifted program. The others are underprivileged in one way or another.
"They all work together," he said. "We try to teach them that we can work together and become a team. That's what diversity is and diversity is at the core of who we are."
Kendra Bowman, 10, said she had been sailing out on the lake three times.
"It's fun, but sometimes challenging," she said. "It's a way to learn about wind and boats.
"I've learned how to sail."
Kendra's father, Ken Bowman, said he loved what the program was doing for his two children involved in it.
"It has shown them that instead of working as individuals, they need to work as a team," the Bank of America employee from Phoenix said. "They are not afraid to work together."
A humble start
For Oppenuizen and others, the journey to the marina at Tempe Town Lake had been a long one.
"I was a state athlete in high school," Oppenuizen said. "While mountain climbing in Europe I took a 60-foot fall and ended up paralyzed from the waist down.
"I came to ASU when I was 18 in a wheelchair."
But, Oppenuizen said he regained use of his legs and could walk again after extensive therapy.
"I got into sailing because it gave me a real feeling of freedom and independence," he said. "You leave the dock as a sailor, not as a person with a disability."
Oppenuizen added that sailing had helped him learn more about nature.
"You become ecologically sensitized to your surroundings," he said. "It's a lot of fun because it is really natural."
Geller, who graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism from ASU, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy when he was 3. He said sailing had helped him get through many challenges he had faced during his life.
"Involvement in the club has made me a better leader," said Geller, who has been sailing for one year. "I enjoy being one with nature and only using the power of the wind.
"It takes me out of my wheelchair and allows me to interact with others on the same level."
First-year ASU student Angela Olsen-Joyce also volunteers with Voyages Unbound and participates in sailing club activities. She said sailing was not as easy as many people probably thought.
"Timing is everything," the music theory major said. "To be successful in sailing you have to be extremely dedicated. But, you meet friends of a lifetime because it is a sport you can all grow from."
Olsen-Joyce added that she enjoyed the adrenaline rush that the sport gave her.
"I love the intensity of sailing and racing," the event coordinator for the club said. "Being able to power a boat by using wind is something that has always fascinated me.
"I just simply love being on the water."
A helping hand for Madison
Tom Clark, director of community education for the Madison School District, said the Voyages Unbound volunteers had helped the children involved become better people in many ways.
"They're teaching the kids team building, perseverance and communication," said Clark, who is in his second year with the district. "They're learning to work with a diverse group of people.
"The program is also helping kids do well in school."
Clark said the program first started at the end of February and that the school district was going to build on it and add additional programming next year.
"Some of these kids are becoming more out going," he added. "They are socializing more and are overcoming personal fears and challenges.
"It doesn't matter whether you are from an upper-class family or a family in need. Everyone is the same once they get out on the water."
Bowman said the program had given his kids an opportunity to do something they might otherwise never get to do.
"They love it," he said. "It teaches them to respect each other and to respect the water. The volunteers incorporate life lessons into sailing and the kids get it. The kids really get it."
Lessons in life
Oppenuizen said in helping others and in providing community service he had in fact been helping himself.
"My whole world view has changed," he said. "I'm the one who is being blessed by helping other people."
Oppenuizen added that he really enjoyed seeing the changes that had occurred in people's lives because of the service he had been rendering.
"It's been fun to work with people and see them achieve their goals," he said. "We want to see our people sail, sail well and enjoy it."
Bowman said the lessons his children had been taught would help them throughout their entire lives.
"It makes them think critically and think of safety," he said. "It teaches them to have that productive teamwork environment."
Bowman added that he liked the program because it promoted that being different was not a bad thing.
"It's a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic activity," he said. "That's why I like it. Anyone can be involved.
"We're all different, but we're all the same."
Oppenuizen said the club began after he saw that people needed help in developing leadership skills.
"I was mentoring students and I found that people had difficulty learning leadership development," he said. "So, I put them on a boat and they started to pick up speed. They started making great decisions."
Oppenuizen added that the earlier people started learning leadership skills, the better off they would be.
"If they develop these skills now, they will carry them throughout their life as a pattern," he said.
Olsen-Joyce said that the leadership and sailing skills didn't come easily.
"They come with time, practice and dedication," she said.
Oppenuizen said that the little, unseen parts of life could have a tremendous impact on each and every one of us.
"It's those little unseen forces in life that are part of who we are," he said. "If we learn to take hold of those things, we can achieve great things."
Jeremy Cluff is a journalism junior. He can be reached at jeremy.a.cluff@asu.edu
