Post A - Informal Education

I’ve always loved to go outside; its fun, its relaxing, and you can do so many things. I’ve always appreciated the wide variety of colors, as things bloom in the spring, and as leaves change in the fall. Outdoors is the one place, that I can always relax. It’s a place where I can think, where I can go and just listen to the wind, hear the birds, and watch the rain and snow fall. It’s something that I consider amazing. Outdoors is where I learned to love many of the things I love today. It’s where I was taught to ride a bike, the scary moments of falling off, but having the strength to get back up again. It’s where I learned to garden, with my mom. Its where I learned to fish, and enjoy the lakes, rivers and streams. When laughing with my brothers at midnight, waking up all the campers was fine. Its where camping became part of my life, spending time each summer at our favorite campground, seeing balancing rock, at Jo-Mary Lake, playing with our friends that we couldn’t wait to see that next summer, and pick things up where they left off, catching frogs, building forts, spending hours at the beach… its all worth it. The outdoors is something that will never leave my life.

The outdoors brings me to one of my now favorite games, where teamwork and friendships brought a group of girls and coaches together so close, and took us on the ride of our lives. We knew that hard work and dedication would bring us our dreams, and nothing stood in our way. We learned that our dreams wouldn’t come true, unless we worked everyday to improve, and keep it fun. It all started my freshman year, as less than twenty of us gained an interest and really wanted a lacrosse team at our school. It happened. We worked hard, and by the time my junior year came around, we were considered a good team, and we had full varsity standing and played some of the hardest teams in the league, all of our dedication and hard work, brought us to one of the best days of my life. My senior year, we took states. We went from nothing to everything in a matter of four years, and I will never forget that day, as we all celebrated at Fitzpatrick Stadium, will no care in the world. But sports aren’t the only thing that I had to learn hard work and dedication. School and learning has always been one of my passions. I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to teach. My grandmother is a teacher, and we always talked about what’s she was doing, and how I would be as a teacher. To this day, she always gives me ideas to teach, and gifts to help me along the way. She has always said that she’s going to retire when I graduate, so I can just take her spot. Having the help from family is one of the best things there is. Which bring me to my next and final life lessons that everyone uses.

Building friendships and trusting your families are two of the most used skills that I have. From day one people are taught that there mothers or their caregiver is someone who they depend on. As kids grow they learn that family and friends are some of the most important things in their lives. Family is always there for you and friends are there when you need them and sometimes when you don’t. Many of my memories are built around my friends. Not only are they someone you can talk to at school, hang out with, go to the movies, or anything fun, but they are someone who you can trust, and who you can tell your secrets to, cause everyone knows that you really cant tell you moms everything… But you can them a lot. Family and friends teach you some of the most important things, and you realize what other people care about and what their passions are. Without my friends and family, I feel as though I would be lost.

As there are many other things that affected me as I grew up, some of the things I mentioned seem to be the most important. Loving the outdoors always gives me something to look forward to. I now know that I can reach my dreams, because hard work and dedication will get you there. And without friends and family, I don’t know what I would do. They have taught me so much, and I know much more to come…