My Work Outside the Classroom
During Thanksgiving break of my Junior year, I traveled to the Dominican Republic with the Watkinson Dominican Republic Service Team. I spent a full week in the DR helping in a med clinic, doing construction, and putting up drywall at the local hospital. This was the first time I had gone on a service trip, and the experience was amazing. Everything that we did on the trip, however small it was, impacted the lives of the people that we worked with. Experiencing a new culture was amazing and getting to help people was even better. We changed lives by building an entire house and helping to put up a new floor in a hospital.
Over the winter of my Junior year, I had the pleasure of working as a ski instructor for Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vermont. This was my first real job and it was a fantastic experience. I taught kids from the age of 4 to 6 the basics of skiing and it was a great lesson to both teach the kids and work with their parents. I had to really increase my communication skills to convey how the kids were doing. I also got to work with a variety of people, many of my coworkers were from South America so hearing about some of their stories was interesting.
I am apart of the Connecticut Youth Club Ultimate Frisbee Team, that participates in the Youth Club Championships in Blaine Minnesota. I have been on this team since my Sophomore year, and I have been enjoying my time on the team more and more. Through my participation in this team, I have had the chance to meet people from all over the country that have similar likes to myself. I even got to meet people from outside the country in Canada and Japan. It’s been great to branch out and expand my community.
In the summer between my Junior and Senior year, I volunteered with my dad at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. I helped my dad with woodworking projects and I helped other volunteers with the construction of some ropes for the rigging. I even had the chance to learn some blacksmithing during my time. It was awesome to meet so many interesting characters during my time and to be apart of something bigger than myself.
