Today is a day of firsts. First of all, it is the 21st of September. It is also the first day of fall. As I sat down to think about what I could write for my first blog, I came to one conclusion. I felt that it would be fitting on this day of firsts to write about my first trip to the “The Last Frontier”: Alaska.
Back in 2005, I was in the eighth grade at Marshall Middle School. During that time, I was the typical eighth grader. I was on the morning announcement crew, was a bassoon player in the band, and was on the honor roll. But, of all of these things that I participated in during the eighth grade, the most important was the opportunity to be involved with the 2005 Alaska Great Lakes Project.
My eighth grade science teacher, Dale Rosene (aka Ishtar), and another teacher (Gary Holsen) from Palmer, Alaska, started the Alaska Great Lakes Project (AGLP) back in 1989 in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. The first trip took students from Marshall Middle School to Tatitlek, Alaska, to do comparative beach studies between the beaches of the Great Lakes and the beaches around Prince William Sound. For three summers, this same trip took place and the investigations continued. In 1993, Ishtar went to Alaska to try to come up with a way to continue the trip but was interested in adding leadership opportunities while keeping an environmental focus. Thanks to Ishtar’s travels back to Alaska, the trip evolved into what it is today. The trip is still focused on the environment but at the same time allows students a growing experience where many learn who they are and become stronger leaders.
(For more information on the trips beginnings and to see pictures of this past summers trip please visit http://aglp.com/2010/index.html )
So, on June 8, 2005, I left for my first trip to Alaska. Now this was the beginning of a long list of “firsts” that would occur over the course of the three weeks that I was in AK. To begin my list, this trip marked the first time that I had ever been anywhere without my parents. To say the least, it was a little nerve racking. For the first time in my entire life, I was experiencing what it was like to be out in the world by myself without my mom and dad two steps behind guiding my every move. But, to say the least, it made me mature very quickly.
During the trip I saw my first moose, whale, caribou, ground squirrel, sea otter, and porpoise. I hiked my first glacier and mountain. I attended my first midnight baseball game where they never turned the stadium lights and for the first time I went sledding in the middle of the summer. And for the first time in my life up to that point, I experienced the true beauty of nature.
Up to that point I had never really known what nature held. But, being surrounded by the mountains and the pure majesty of the natural wilderness really opened my eyes to what true beauty is.
So, on the autumnal equinox 2010, I begin my journey in exploring the true beauty of the town I now call home…
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| Whale Flukes From my Trip to AK Summer 2005 |
