Summer Fun by Elizabeth

Summer Fun by Elizabeth - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

As I am about to graduate, and I look back on my high school career, there were many things that I had wished that I did, but when I reminisce, there is one event that I specifically remember. During sophomore year, I enrolled in a problem-based Earth Studies class. Loving the class, I decided to participate in a three-week excursion into the wilderness of the Northwestern United States. We flew from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, and from there drove through surrounding states such as Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. The Summer Earth Studies trip also revolved around problem-based learning, investigated the natural processes associated with the Earth. As I look back at the experience, I realize that this experience is singularly responsible for most of my personal growth in my four years of high school. It taught leadership skills, and helped me to step outside of my comfort zone to develop friendships with people I would have never talked to otherwise. Most importantly however, it taught me to respect the Earth, and enlightened me to the importance of conservation. The three weeks on the trip were sublime. Being surrounded by people who enjoyed the outdoors and who were young conservationists just like myself, provided a healthy and intelligent learning community.
Each student on the trip had the opportunity to be a leader in a problem-solving group. I can vividly remember one particularly daunting problem where I was the group leader. We were taken to a crater in Utah and told to figure out what had created the hole. After carefully examining the area, I realized that there was metamorphic and igneous rocks scattered around the area that was indigenously made of entirely sedimentary rock. My group concluded that the crater had been caused by a meteor impact. We were one of the only groups that had succeeded in answering the problem correctly, and still to this day, I am proud of my contribution.

Although the academic environment on the trip was second to none, there was one night that was more life changing than all the rest. We were in Moab, Utah and our trip was coming to a close. Everybody was disappointed that in about three days we would be back home and about to start school. Luckily, the coordinator of the trip had saved the best for last, and at 7 pm we left our log cabins and headed for Arches National Park. After about 30 minutes of intense physical exertion, we arrived at our destination. If you have never been to the Delicate Arch, believe me, it is breathtaking. We pulled our dinners out of our packs and began to eat and rest. After taking millions of pictures it began to get dark and everybody expected us to start our hike back down, but we didn’t. We stayed there until it was pitch black and the stars came out. We sat there contemplating the cosmos for hours in complete silence; I had never seen so many stars. When something is that beautiful there are no words to describe it. It was a time of self-reflection, and pondering. I thought about how nature can be so strong and beautiful at the same time, and about how I could personally try to preserve this beauty. It put into perspective how fragile we are as a human race, how miniscule we are in the universe. I figured out a lot about myself in those few hours , things that changed me. When we look into nature, I believe it allows us to better understand ourselves, and that night in Utah, I realized that I want to be a multifaceted human: tranquil yet fierce, just like nature.

The Summer Earth Studies experience is the one single event in high school that is responsible for most of my personal growth throughout my four years. As well as challenging me academically, the trip forced me to be independent and realize what I am passionate about. I would thoroughly recommend and encourage all younger students to participate in a trip like this , whether it be for leisure or academics, and dealing with an area of study that they are passionate about. I want other students to be able to experience the same things that I did, so that when they leave high school, they always have a pleasurable memory to look back on with friends and teachers.