Honors Camp

The honors camp was definitely a valuable experience for me as a future teacher. I will admit I was upset about losing my entire weekend, but I did end up having some fun. We got to teach Frisbee Golf skills to the students six times, and I had a lot of fun each time. Every time was a different experience with different challenges and different rewards. I really enjoyed the great interaction with the students and the chances to teach them and help them. They were really good kids who behaved really well. I just wish I would have been a consular because they got to be with the students more and really seemed to get a chance to build better relationships with the students. However, with that said, it was still a really good experience.

"Children are one third of our population and all of our future". - Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981

Wakeboarding

Wake boarding was a really fun experience and I'm definitely glad I went. I really enjoyed getting up on the wake board because I was able to use the boat that had a bar on the outside so it was easier to get up above the water on the wake board. It was also really fun to simply be on the boat and simply get sunshine while relaxing on a beautiful lake. It was really cool that our major put this together for us. This was really a unique experience, especially because we were on a private lake. It was a great relaxing experience that felt really good after rock climbing the day before had really taken its toll on me.

Here is a useful website with information about Wake boarding:

http://wakeboard.lifetips.com/faq/0/0/question-answer/index.html

Practice Rock Climbing

For this class we did rock climbing at Ellensburg High School. This was to be warm up for when we did real rock climbing at Pinnacle Park. The main focus was on belaying so that all of us would be able to belay each other to keep everyone safe when we went to Pinnacle Park. This was a lot of fun and a very valuable experience because it would help us a lot when we truly went climbing. It was a lot of fun because it was a challenging and new experience. This is also a really useful skill because it is vital to be safe and have someone belaying you if you ever want to do any rock climbing.

Rock Climbing- For Real

For this class we went rock climbing at Pinnacle Park.This was by far the most memorable day of this class. I remember thinking how daunting and difficult all of the climbs seemed when I first arrived at the park. I was really nervous to climb. I decided to do the easiest climb first, and this was a huge struggle. I was really nervous and I kept thinking my feet would not hold on the rock. Only when I trusted my feet did I have any chance at all of completing the climb. I finally did succeed on the first climb, but it took forever and I did not think there was any way I was completing four more climbs. I did a much harder climb the second time. I could hardly get off the ground at first, and there were many times when I was about to ask to be let down. However, I was being encouraged by the people who we watching me and belaying me, and this gave me the strength to eventually make it to the top because I really did not want to give up. The next climb was easier, and after all of that experience, the last two were cake. I got way better as the class went on. I also really enjoyed rappelling, although the thought of it at first was scary. Really, it was a great day and it was very rewarding. I really felt like I accomplished something. I also really enjoyed eating at Gustav's after wards and just really getting to celebrate all we have done. It was an awesome experience.

Here is a website with some information about the park where we did the rock climbing:

http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2231/places/58506/

"The difference between try and triumph is a little umph". -Unknown

The Hike

For this class, we hiked up Manastash Ridge just outside of town. This was a cool experience for me because I have done this hike many times throughout my life, and it was a different experience to get to do the hike in my class. My only problem was that we took a much more difficult and longer way than I usually take, so I was caught off guard. I don't usually bring water up this hike because I never needed it, but I should have brought some this time because this was a much more rigorous path than I am used to. It was a great workout, but I was really out of it by the time we got to the top. I do always love the view at the top of the mountain, and its always cool to sign the guest book because it puts your name in history and gives you a sense of accomplishment.

"Recreation" Bike Ride

For this class, we went on the recreation bike ride. I thought I was going to go on the advanced bike ride, but I talked to our professor before the ride was to take place and he told me to do the recreational bike ride. I'm very glad that I did this bike ride instead, because part of it was quite a challenge as is. I think I did a pretty good job and I stayed at the front of the pack for the way up. I really enjoyed the bike ride and it was a great workout. I was sweating bullets part of the way up. I kept hoping there would be down hill steches, but there really were not any at all. It was an interesting experience because I hadn't truly went on a long bike ride in years. I also had an interesting experience because I had bad breaks on the bikes, so I tried to stay away from people on the way down. Also, the huge amount of sheep on the trail was very humorous as we all tried to avoid them.

I'm Lost!

For this day we did Orienteering and learned how to use a compass. Learning how to use a compass was a very useful skill to learn and was a helpful skill to learn. Orienteering was also a lot of fun because it was a good experience to go around the campus trying to find certain things based on hints given. Orienteering basically involves map reading and being able to use a compass. The whole experience was really helpful and helped me to improve my sense of direction and my skills in finding things, and this was very important. I have never had a good sense of direction. I really enjoyed the experience and I learned useful skills.

Here is a official orienteering website of the Uniteed States: http://www.us.orienteering.org/

Back to the Circus

For this class we were able to work on our circus arts skills again because the bike ride was canceled. This was very helpful to me because I was able to practice my Diablo more and then I was able to test out on it with advanced, and this was very exciting to me. It was great to be rewarded for all of my effort and practice using the diablo. I really enjoyed performing my routine.

Geocaching

For this class, we got to go geocaching throughout my college campus. This was a lot of fun for me because I really enjoyed this because we got to go around campus searching for items by clues that were given. I grew up in Ellensburg and always went around the campus, so it was fun going around campus trying to find things based on hints and the coordinates. It can also be a useful skill to be able to find things and find your way around using coordinates. It was also cool to get to do this because I have some friends that have done geocaching and they really enjoy it. They also talk about it and how much they enjoy it; it was cool to get to experience what they also talk about. I really enjoyed this class a lot and I hope to get chances to geoctche again.

Here is the national geocaching website:

http://www.geocaching.com/

Circus Trip

This class was reserved for going over our circus arts skills. I really enjoyed this because I like the unique circus arts. I practiced my juggling, then my unicycling. After lunch, we were allowed to test out on anything we could. First I practiced my diablo for a while, and decided not to try to test on it because I think I can get advanced with more practice. I did test out on both flower sticks and unicycle. It felt really good to get a couple of tests behind me and to have been successful in them. Passing the unicycle assesment was really a relief because I didn't think I was going to be able to pass that assesment.

My Syndey Crosby Impersonation

For this class, we did inline skating again and then some of us, including myself, played a lot of roller hockey afterwords. This was really a treat to me because I rollerbladed a lot when I was a kid and I really enjoy rollerblading and it was really a treat to get to practice it again. In fact, for our hour lunch break, myself and a few others decided to roller blade around campus and off campus so we could just leave our skates on. We played a lot of roller hockey after the lunch break, and this was really a good experience and a unique experience because I hadn't really played roller hockey before. We did not have to skate after lunch, but since I had kept my skates on all lunch break, I wasn't about to take them off right after lunch. We then worked on our circus arts skills, and this was very important because I needed to improve on these skills to be successful in the testing.

Presentation

For this class, we all presented our honors camp presentations. We all dressed up and looked nice to present on the activities we will be doing for the honors presentations. Carl and I presented on our Frisbee games and activities plan for the camp. I enjoyed presenting and I enjoyed seeing all the fun and unique ideas that everyone had and the exciting ways they were going to present them. I really liked talking about the honors camp and the activities like the skits because I think the honors camp will be a really good and unique experiences. It will be great teaching experience and it will be a good test of what we have learned. It is also great experience to put on a resume.