Personal Narrative: Volunteering At Spring Lake

I live in a small town that goes by the name of Lafayette. The population is 4,500. Everyone knows where everything is, when everything is, and what everything is. As a child, my mother and I would go to a beautiful waterfall on a small back road when the sun was shining, when the trees and rocks were just right, and when it was damp and perfect for four wheeler rides. The Union Camp waterfall is majestic. The scenery makes a person speechless. We would always go when the weather was perfect. The waterfall is one childhood memory I will always remember. The activities my mother and I would do were always a blast. My trips to Union Camp waterfall are memorable because of the scenery, the weather, and the activities.

In Eagle River, Wisconsin June of 2006 my parents and I made the 30 minute drive from my brothers camp, Kawaga, to mine, Chippewa. I was seven years old sitting in the back seat of this car thinking about how my brother, Max, loves his camp so I would too. However, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We arrived and my parents stopped the car to take a picture of me in front of the big red rustic sign “Chippewa Ranch Camp” it said. As we drove down the long dirt driveway it finally hit me that I was about to get out of this car and not see my parents for an entire month. I couldn’t even spend the night out I would call them to pick me up at midnight from my friends homes, how in the world was I going to survive four whole weeks of

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

The North West Outdoor School is a place where I have learned a lot about myself, and a place that has changed and sparked exciting ideas and values into the 6th grade children.

During the relaxed summer of 2010 my family and I passed through the entrance of the campgrounds, and the moment night dawned upon us prompted the most scarring experience of my life. In our small car, my irritable older stepbrother, my over excited mom, and my exhausted stepdad finally had arrived to our destination, Lake Tahoe, after and excruciating seven hour driving starting from Southern California. After many times of me annoyingly inquiring, “Are we there yet?” and subjecting myself to the wrath and dismissiveness of my family, my ten-year old self was elated that we finally reached our destination. Once we parked at our campsite, my family hastily got out of our tightly packed, dirty 2004 BMW 3 Series, and all spread out among the site. The crisp, evening air was complemented by the crunching of the gravel and

Have you ever been to the Great Lakes? The Great Lakes are huge. I went there before. I had to go there to drop off a piece of equipment. We went to The Great Lakes. We spent some time there and played for a little while. Then we had to leave. They won't allow people to swim in the great lakes because there was a crocodile in there. My most favorite place is The Great Lakes.

In the world are people that is difficult for them to work in the job that they have.

Looking at my phone, I check to see if there are any new notifications. None. the backdrop is all that appears. I proceed to unlock my phone and see what’s new on Twitter. Nothing has changed since the last time I looked three minutes ago. Just the same tweet that reads, “I can’t believe how much work I have for this week!” I lock my phone and continue on my way to class. Four minutes later, I’m back on Twitter and the same tweet still appears at the top of my feed: “I can’t believe how much work I have for this week!” The cycle repeats itself and before I know it, I’ve spent the majority of my day looking through a little, electronic screen to stay connected to the world.

It's in the year 6000, the midwest region is now desert, due to global warming and continental drift. My team and I has been sent to the middle of the area. It was believed that there was once a river there, but it makes sense that it's now gone with average temperatures way above 100 degrees and very miniscule precipitation. Though this not all bad, there's plenty of discoveries to find here. In some block we found straight, pointed obelisk when a plaque. It took some time and good people to translate it. When do so believe it to say Memorial Park. Why honor those who die in battle, when the glory belongs those kill? What a strange people they were. The other different objects with the memorial, appeared to be some heavily weathered torture devices. We have no idea what to do or how operate them, but we all would love to see how they were in their prime and how they operated. That must also explain the pit also nearby, to put the bodies. Not to judge a race of people, but they have a different style to furnish parks with.

My experience at Walden West was amazing! I had so much fun making new friends, trying new experiences, and new emotions (mostly balling my eyes for out on Friday ). In all I had a great experience there and want to go back there as a camp leader in high school and this summer even. My favorite things were definitely the food, friends, and field class. They all helped me have the best experience at science camp I could ever have. It was hard for me to leave without crying.

My most significant endeavor while attending Lake Michigan College, was tutoring Emma, a high school freshman, in math, which benefited both society and the community. It is critical in life to give back, this applies to college students as well. You put life in perspective, when you give back, for instance assisting people who are less fortunate than you helps you appreciate your possessions and experiences.

Today for my service learning project I headed over to Pulaski County to volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity to help build houses. The trip to Pulaski took about forty-five minutes as the I-81 was calm. Upon arriving at the work site, I took it upon myself to get acquainted with the supervisor currently present. Although, I was unable to locate the supervisor immediately, someone working at the site instructed me to fill out a wavier before I could be assigned any duties. After all that was said and done, I was instructed by a fellow volunteer to pick up a tool belt, some nails and a hammer. The first task that was asked of me was to hammer in some nails on the frame of the house. This task was simple as the places where I needed to hammer were clearly marked. The

I have to walk out of my dorm and down two flights of stairs just to get outside. Then, I make a right towards the arch in Friley to walk down another flight of stairs, and lastly I’ll head towards Welch Ave. to arrive at Lake Laverne.

It was a breezy November day. Our school was on our way, heading to the Pine Lake Challenge Course in Bristol, Ct, a ropes course designed to challenge students to work together to overcome a challenge and accomplish a goal. As my friends and I were talking on the bus, we all thought there was no point in going to the course and that this was going to be a waste of time. Our class has a lot of loud, opinionated people and “always right people” so I thought we were going to get nowhere. When we arrived, my team encountered 3 challenges. Throughout these activities, we were forced to come together, and as a result we struggled, some went well, but others, we were completely stumped.

For my volunteer work, I am the pianist for Saturday masses at my local Vietnamese church. This usually takes up about 2 hours every Saturday. The actual mass itself is only 1 hour but the practice time takes the longest. Starting off, as an Asian-American, my understanding of Vietnamese was very poor. I was able to speak and comprehend but it was on a very basic level. One of the steps I had to overcome was being able to become more fluent in Vietnamese. Another step that I had to overcome was adapting to the music style. American hymns were significantly different and I had grown up playing "American" songs. Adjusting to this change was hard at first, as different styles of music made it hard for me to comprehend what I was playing. As