Personal Narrative: The Satilla River

Life jacket all strapped on, getting to the last step and I’m in. I feel the rush of the cold water running all over my body like a pack of fire ants attacking their prey. I let go of the ladder and step on the lake floor, slim, allege, little water bugs everywhere, the smell of fresh lake with a hint of fish comes to me. I walk around on the lake floor going deeper as I go, my life jacket starts to kick in and I’m loosing footing as I continue walking into the unknown. I get to a point where there’s a clear line where there’s a drop off, one side is the lake floor the other is a black hole. Pretty soon it’s me and the lake, and I just lay back and enjoy every bit of it. The blue sky with white streams left behind from the passing jets, making lines that cross each other every which way. The waves coming in from boats way out and beyond, gently hitting me and pushing me just inches closer towards shore. Birds sing their song, pine trees blow in the wind, sun beating down hitting my face, blinding me as it always does. I return to the real world and realize I floated back to where I started out, the lake knew it was time to head in. I step over to the silver ladder who spends its days and nights in this clear, cold lake helping those who dare to step in. I get up to the top of the ladder and step onto the dock, where my towel was waiting, to provide some warmth back to me. I wrap my towel around me and start the walk back to our beach house. I am careful not to slip on the rocks that washed up from the lake, and I make it to grass and flat

On September 1, 2012, I walked into my fifth grade teacher’s classroom for the first time in my life. Mrs.Cullen was standing in the front of the door with open arms ready to welcome her new fifth grade students. As I made my way to my desk and sat down next to Charlie Schutt and Quin Timmerman, I got the feeling that middle school would be a time of talking to some of my best friends and cruising through classes. As the school year progressed, and classroom seats changed, my thought of how Middle school would be changed as well. On the first day Mrs.Cullen explained our schedule, Homework detentions, and demerits. After about fifty questions, she sent us off to our first class, and the first step of our Middle School journey. The fifth grade

My preschool years I started off at a school called Lake Rim in Hope Mills, North Carolina. My teacher's name was Mrs.Keller and we were all little kids so we thought she was scary because her name was so close to killer. By the second day we realized that she was a very compassionate and nice teacher after giving us candy for every math problem we got right. I didn't go to Lake Rim for long because I think we were two months into the school year and as I was getting out of the reading tub one day a kid named Jermaine. He had just got done at the math section before running across the classroom screaming and as I turned around to get out of the tub he superman kicked me in the face and I flew back into the tub. Mrs.Keller quickly came over to see if I was alright and took me to the guidance office because I had a bloody nose and a boot mark on my face.

When I first arrived at UC Davis as an undergraduate, I was unaware of what global health was. Although my interests aligned with health topics, such as disease prevention and improving health literacy, I did not explore any other graduate degrees besides an M.D. However, my career plans changed when I joined a public health advocacy group called RIVER (Recognizing Illnesses Very Early and Responding). RIVER prioritized educating underserved populations in Davis and the Greater Sacramento area about how essential preventive care is to one’s health. Through my participation in the organization as a board member, I learned more about preventive care and applied that knowledge by teaching underprivileged communities about how to make healthier lifestyle changes through exercise and nutrition. This organization’s

When I was little, my grandfather taught me how to swim. I remember the time we were

In my school I am part of a community service group called start something, we help people in our community who are not as fortunate, or help clean in our community to keep our city beautiful. My first community service event was the Spicket River cleanup, the Spicket River is a small river that goes through Lawrence. The river goes through many parts of Lawrence, some people’s trash ends up in the river,[every year I look forward to this event to help the environment and my community] this is why every year I look forward to participating in The Spicket River Cleanup.

I have been in the now disturbing Quetico lake for the last 12 years of my life. I can’t take this. I have one way out, and that is to get someone in, trapped. I am captured in the deepest part of the Quetico lake, 300 feet below, I have gone mental. Around every month someone passes and I restrain myself from knocking, pleading for help. The only way I can get out is if I knock on a boat that passes and put them in my place. I never wanted too, for twelve years I haven’t. I know they will be trapped with a terrible way to escape. It will mess with their mind, but I could not take the pain of going insane. I was stuck...until now.

The first time I played football was in AYA. I was not good at all execpt at MLB(middle line backer) it was also my first year so i didnt know much. We lost about every game execpt for one time we actully won. But i got a concussion that game because a kid from my on team hit me in the back of my head. Our record that year was 2-7. When i got to 7th grade football it was way diffrent from AYA so at tryouts i went to the running back and quaterback position and i got the position . The next week we got our teams i made b-team i was so mad.But i got over it and the first game was aginst south our rivrly game. Forte vs south our biggest game of the year. Sadly we lost 14-12 but it was the closest frte has ever got to beating them. We

In rural North America, in present day Billing, Montana, over 600 years ago, there once live a tribe that was fierce as a bear and yet stayed together like a pack of wolves and trickery as a fox. Altogether, it builds an ultimate warrior of pure ferociousness and blunt force. Other tribes tended to more soft than the tribe I was in . While most tribes were farmers and gathers, our tribe was mainly hunters, we raided other tribes of their goods.

Maria woke up and thought to herself, I need a change. Something adventurous. Maybe I’ll go to that strange lake I saw. It sure is hot today. And I think I deserve the rest since papa made me work so hard yesterday. With that in mind, she slipped on the worn ruffle dress her sister had passed on to her three years ago. Maria missed her sister, Margarita. Margarita had died many many years ago, at the young age of nine. Seeing that Maria possessed a petite figure, and that Margarita was abnormally tall, Margarita gave the young Maria the dress as a birthday gift. The story goes, Margarita and three toddlers named Juan, José, and Alejandro were playing in the dirt when their mother came up to them and yanked them as hard as she could. You see, her husband had been gone for longer and longer trips out west at a time, and only came back

Four years old. An age too young to know but an age old enough to remember. My life in Laos is something I can’t recall. I only know about my travel to America because of my parents. I was only four when I left my first home and arrived in America. The war sent us running to America, like most immigrants. My pregnant mom, older sister and I awaited my dad, who fought in the Vietnam War, to come and take us to this place of freedom. The wait was ephemeral, he didn’t return. My mom’s brother was the one who came for us. He came and took us across the jungle, across the ocean and flew us to Fresno, my new hometown.

In my future I would like to open my own motocross track to have open for the public if I could have a good fun amazing track i can make a living off of it. I work at a motocross track right now but if i owned one I could make way more money after i

My head slowly angled down at the murky brown water reflecting the bright sun as It flowed downstream. “Come on you pussy”, I heard from below. From then on, and for these three words, my fate would be decided, On that day about four years ago, i would know what fear feels like, and how confidence can change your life.

I was on the bike everyday. My father and I used to go riding every chance we got, we'd go to the state forest or even to Richmond pond which was my favorite ride. We got to take the train tracks there the whole way and that meant I could just hold the throttle wide open. As a kid dirt biking was the only thing that I connected with and amused me. Growing up dirt biking met the whole family would be together on the weekends and I would get to do what I love.

The second reason is that you can go four wheeling in the mountains. Four wheeling is when you take an ATV through mud and get dirty.