Senior Field Studies Research Paper
Danielle Rhodes
Palz
English Composition 121
January 29, 2014
Field Studies Senior Field Studies showed me what it is like to live deep and suck the marrow out of life. I learned how to look at the world from a different angle and that life is not only black and white. Senior Field Studies (SFS) is a program that high school students have the opportunity of taking their senior year, and it gets them out of the classroom and into the world. Senior Field Studies is taught by two teachers Mark Leachman and Steve Porentas. These men have changed many lives. Mark started the program almost twenty-five years ago and it has been thriving ever since. SFS strives to show students the importance of learning through experience. From backpacking …show more content…
I had a fourth-five pound pack on my back and my muddy hiking boots strapped to my feet. The sun scorching. Cacti surrounded my feet and towered like skyscrapers all around me. The simply beauty of my surroundings moved me in a way that is hard to explain, I was changed. When I looked around at the cacti covered hills I saw a new form of beauty. The familiarity of Douglas Firs or the smell of the Ponderosa Pine left me back in Colorado. Arizona’s desert showed me how life is lived from the very basic essentials. Cacti live off very little precipitation and a large amount of sun. Arizona’s desert was pulling me in. The first day we hiked a total of seven excruciating miles. The sun was beating down on my neck as beads of sweat were rolling off my brow. Our first task was to climb what is referred to as “bitch hill” and its name holds a lot of truth. After the first day I had felt so accomplished. I then felt the urge to walk with naked feet on the earth just to feel grounded. There was a connection I made with the desert that day that pushed me deeper into nature. This was the first time I would be on a long trip, two weeks to be exact, and I knew that it was going to influence the way I live the rest of my life. I would grow a deeper appreciation for …show more content…
The rush of diving into a rapid on a little raft made me feel alive. Looking into a hole that seemed over six feet deep would send my stomach into a whirl. The anxiety and excitement would penetrate my body, leaving me frozen. I would hear the chants of my raft leader “Paddle, paddle, paddle!” and sink back into reality. The rapids are more difficult to navigate rather than calm, lake-water, river. I felt as if the rapids were similar to obstacles that life will throw out there. Life will be going along smoothly then boom: a rapid. The way we navigate the rapids will determine the outcome, the raft will either make it without any hesitation or the raft will flip and soak all of our
Palz
English Composition 121
January 29, 2014
Field Studies Senior Field Studies showed me what it is like to live deep and suck the marrow out of life. I learned how to look at the world from a different angle and that life is not only black and white. Senior Field Studies (SFS) is a program that high school students have the opportunity of taking their senior year, and it gets them out of the classroom and into the world. Senior Field Studies is taught by two teachers Mark Leachman and Steve Porentas. These men have changed many lives. Mark started the program almost twenty-five years ago and it has been thriving ever since. SFS strives to show students the importance of learning through experience. From backpacking …show more content…
I had a fourth-five pound pack on my back and my muddy hiking boots strapped to my feet. The sun scorching. Cacti surrounded my feet and towered like skyscrapers all around me. The simply beauty of my surroundings moved me in a way that is hard to explain, I was changed. When I looked around at the cacti covered hills I saw a new form of beauty. The familiarity of Douglas Firs or the smell of the Ponderosa Pine left me back in Colorado. Arizona’s desert showed me how life is lived from the very basic essentials. Cacti live off very little precipitation and a large amount of sun. Arizona’s desert was pulling me in. The first day we hiked a total of seven excruciating miles. The sun was beating down on my neck as beads of sweat were rolling off my brow. Our first task was to climb what is referred to as “bitch hill” and its name holds a lot of truth. After the first day I had felt so accomplished. I then felt the urge to walk with naked feet on the earth just to feel grounded. There was a connection I made with the desert that day that pushed me deeper into nature. This was the first time I would be on a long trip, two weeks to be exact, and I knew that it was going to influence the way I live the rest of my life. I would grow a deeper appreciation for …show more content…
The rush of diving into a rapid on a little raft made me feel alive. Looking into a hole that seemed over six feet deep would send my stomach into a whirl. The anxiety and excitement would penetrate my body, leaving me frozen. I would hear the chants of my raft leader “Paddle, paddle, paddle!” and sink back into reality. The rapids are more difficult to navigate rather than calm, lake-water, river. I felt as if the rapids were similar to obstacles that life will throw out there. Life will be going along smoothly then boom: a rapid. The way we navigate the rapids will determine the outcome, the raft will either make it without any hesitation or the raft will flip and soak all of our