Caroline Flynn Blazes National, International Trails

Video: Day 1      Video: Day 2    Video: Day 3   Video Day 4

Video: Day 5      Video: Day 6    Video: Day 7   Video: Vision

Randy York N-Sider

Official Blog of the Huskers

This is the third of a five-part series, featuring Husker student-athlete experiences in the Dominican Republic.

If actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, Lincoln native Caroline Flynnis your quintessential leader. She is, by all accounts, a trailblazer in just about every imaginable way.

A week after returning from the Dominican Republic on a trip abroad with 19 fellow Husker student-athletes, Nebraska’s 5-foot-5 senior soccer star is representing the United States Under-23 Women’s National Team. From June 2nd to June 8th, the USA will join three other Under-23 national women’s teams representing Sweden, Norway and host England in a Nordic Tournament at St. Georges Park, the official training center for the England Football Association.

No one is surprised how Flynn can make a path for others to follow while creating one of her own. A hard-working role-model leader, she inspires those around her to reach for the stars, so all involved just might land close to the moon.

SAAC President, Distinguished Scholar, HERO Award, T.O. Citizenship Team

If learning is a constant process throughout everyone’s professional life, consider the achievements Flynn has put together before beginning her senior season at Nebraska. She was president of Nebraska’s 2015-16 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and also earned two Big Ten Distinguished Scholar awards, two CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, three All-Big Ten academic accolades, plus three years on the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team and the prestigious Life Skills Student-Athlete HERO Leadership Award presented last April (above).  

Passionate in her pursuit of excellence, Flynn, a Lincoln Southwest High School graduate, is far more comfortable sharing thoughts about spending a full week helping to build a court for kids in the Dominican Republic. Please listen to her account of the trip and you’ll understand how and why Flynn is so adept in translating vision into reality.

Caroline Flynn, Soccer (Lincoln Nebraska): “The service trip to the Dominican Republic was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thanks to the Nebraska Athletics Department, I was fortunate to travel abroad with 19 other student-athletes to help build a court for the community of Las Pajas. Going into the trip, we did not know what to expect. One of the most important lessons I believe we took away from this experience was the meaning of selflessness. The community of Las Pajas was one of the most loving, caring and selfless groups of people I’ve ever met. 

“One example of their selflessness stood out. On the second day of the trip, we were all still getting to know the members of the community. We had taken a break from working and a few of us were talking to one of the women in the community. Sam, a member of our swimming and diving team, was trying to tell the woman that she liked her shirt. I could tell the woman was not quite understanding what Sam was trying to say, due to the language barrier between English and Spanish. I attempted to tell Sam how to say that she liked the woman's shirt in Spanish.

“The woman ended up overhearing me say it and her response nearly brought me to tears. The woman thanked me and immediately took off her shirt and physically put it on my back. We later learned that this particular woman in the community is a nurse and is trying to go to college to become a doctor. That was just one example of the community's selflessness, and I can attest to several other accounts that I experienced and observed throughout the week. Overall, this trip opened up my mind to a whole different meaning of selflessness and love.”

Please join four more Huskers who share their most incisive memorable moments:

Aaron Wong, Golf (Chandler, Arizona): “My most memorable moment was Thursday morning. The previous night, the Courts for Kids lady wanted us to get up at 6 a.m. to be ready to work at 6:30, so we were there. However, nothing was ready for us to work until 7:30, so the people who worked construction waited around as the people who worked on the mural prepared their materials. As soon as they said the tools were ready for the construction workers, a lot of people jumped up and bolted to work, and it was hard work. We had to pick, shovel, and wheelbarrow gravel (above) from a hill about 250 yards from the basketball court. 

“This stood out to me because it not only showed the selfless attitude of the team members, but also their work ethic and ability to have and maintain a positive attitude. Many of them could've complained about how they could've had an extra hour of sleep, but instead, they looked for other things to do that would leave an impact. One was playing with the kids, mopping the community center, sweeping the cement and grabbing the water gallon tubs. They were all ready and willing to work and work hard on this basketball court that we are all most likely never going to use. Everyone enjoyed our time down in the Dominican Republic. The experience was impressive and very special to me. It was something I know that I will never forget.” 

Melanie Crawford, Bowling (Plano, Texas): “The most memorable moment for me came at the very end of the trip. It was our last night in town and before dinner, one of the ladies in the community we’d been with all week took Alex, Maggie and me to her house. She pulled out a bag of something for each of us and told us that she will always remember the lasting mark that we left on that community. I was so deeply touched. This trip has absolutely changed my life, and I hope that someday I can make it back to the Dominican Republic and visit Las Pajas again.”

Tyler Berger, Wrestling (Prineville, Oregon): “Going to the Dominican Republic was a life-changing experience for me. From the moment we entered the country to the day we left, I was constantly being reminded how lucky and how privileged I am to have been born in the United States. The community of Las Pajas had so little, yet they lived such a happy and peaceful life. I would describe their lifestyle as simple. The simplicity was what made us all struggle. Ironically though, it made us grow closer as well. It made our relationships stronger, happier and more genuine, not only with each other but with the townspeople as well.

“Due to the fact we had no cell phone service, no internet, and no air conditioning, we were forced to all be outside and interact with each other all day, every day. We were constantly making up games, playing with the kids, and my personal favorite, finding ways to play pranks on each another. If I had to pick one thing I learned that stood out to me the most while in Las Pajas, it would have to be how close the community was and how quickly the townspeople accepted us as one of them. They opened my eyes to how distant we are to each other in the United States. Due to the simplicity of their way of life, they don't have to worry about being distracted by irrelevant things such as social media. They don't know anything else except to get along with each other and have each other's backs.”

Krista Van Wie, Swimming & Diving (Grand Island, Nebraska): “The most meaningful memory of the trip was when the women and girls of the Las Pajas community helped build the court on the last day. Usually, labor like that, is seen as a man's job in the community and the women aren’t supposed to be working, but because they saw all of us doing the work, they decided to help, too.

“It wasn't until the last day when they realized they could do the same kind of work that the men were doing, and that was because we were all setting the example. The women and girls, including some girls who were extremely young, all worked the entire day to finish what they could before we had to leave. With their help, we got a lot done.”

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