This year, I am very excited to say that I will be joining CGA for my fourth consecutive service trip. I am now 15 years old and a sophomore at Eagle Valley High School. Eagle has been my home my entire life, and I cannot believe all that it has given me. Right now, I am the only child at home, but for eleven years of my life I grew up with two older brothers, Ben and David. As much teasing and taunting we give each other, I know that they are one of the biggest reasons I am who I am today, as well as my parents. My brothers have been, and continue to be, my biggest role models, as they are now each at a military academy. My parents have also been inspirational. My mom came from not so fortunate beginnings in Milwaukee, was diagnosed with cancer before graduating college, and beat the disease at the sacrifice of her leg. Despite this, she has achieved more than can be written in a few sentences. My dad is an elementary school teacher who has taught me about anything and everything that puzzles me. I have always been an avid athlete, whether it’s football, lacrosse, baseball, soccer, track, or karate. The ones that have stuck with me through the years have been football, lacrosse, and karate. However, this year I have given up both football and lacrosse in order to compete on a higher level for karate and hopefully make the Junior National Team. So yeah, karate means a lot to me. I also like to play piano, draw, and teach karate.
This year, I am getting to go to the place of books and legends: Nepal. I have always wanted to go to Nepal as a fascination with the land and the mountains. The people, culture, and history is like no other on this planet: the birthplace of Buddha and with it Buddhism along with the traditions of Hinduism, the many different groups and languages that inhabit the country, and the tumultuous and violent political past. I am very excited to see this country and all there is to it, and I am even more excited to learn more of what I don’t know. All these reasons take the back seat to the main reason why I am on this trip, or any trip for that matter. I have the powerful urge to continue helping people. And not just any people, but those who have nearly nothing in terms of material possessions relative to me. People who have lived their lives in poverty and distress have all the reason but do not deserve in the slightest to be ignored. Through the political turmoil that Nepal has seen and the devastating earthquakes of 2015, the Nepali people deserve anything we can give. I don’t know if I realize exactly how lucky I am, but I am starting to get the picture. I plan to use all that I have been given and everything that I already have inside me to provide some kind of support and help for Nepal.
