Andrew Sanchez Ex-Blog 2nd Ex

Andrew Sanchez

This Expedition was a fun one, but it was not very exciting. I hate to say that it was boring, but I can’t help how I feel. The only reason that I feel this way is because we didn’t do very much besides school, and hiking.  Though it’s not like this trip was a rollercoaster ride to the moon, I still had fun.

 The first thing that we did was land in El Paso (derp).  We then did the usual Food/Supply buy at Wal-Mart, and drove to the Guadalupe Mountains, located in Texas (not Guadalupe) . This place is constantly windy, due to the clash between the cold air in Canada, and the warm air from The Gulf of Mexico (or somewhere near). This made cooking very hard and the food very cold (the stoves wouldn’t work with all of the wind).

We then hiked to the highest point in Texas, and learned that the highest point of Texas, used to be a coral Reef.  The hike to the top was 4 miles, and the hike to the bottom was also 4 miles (we went down the same way we went up). 

Next day, we went to Carlsbad Caverns National park. At the caverns, we found many interesting Rock formations, like the columns, and mirror lake. Though the caverns were interesting, I would have preferred to have to walkway removed so that I would feel more like and explorer, and less like some tourist who is too lazy to look for things that aren’t shoved into their face.

After that “adventure” we vacated the Guatemalan Mountains, and drove to another state park, which happened to have a natural spring complete with a high dive.

We then drove to Big Bend national park, Where each of us drank a liter of soda (I Choose to drink Root beer, for its delicious, and classical taste (I’ve always been a root beer lover)), so that we could fill them up on our Ex-pack hiking trip(there was no other water except for the water we brought on our backs(2 liters)).  

When we escaped the Big Bend national park, we went to a “hot” spring. There we swam to Mexico, across the Rio Grande, where I stood (where I got in trouble because I stood(we weren’t supposed to stand)).

The next day we took a day off to do just school, and the next day we were off to the airport (we had to wake up at 3:00 am by the way) and from there, back to Balsam, where we were met with a flurry of snow. 

Mitchell Harrison Expedition 2 :) :) :) :)

On this expedition the team learned how to work together. The Challenge that the team had was that we needed to work on our time management. We have as a team went up a lot since the first expedition. I also think that the team is doing well in that we are getting along with each other together and we have been working on our communication a lot on this expedition. We also have been working as a team. We all have been working on our schoolwork as team. We have been working on our jobs on the expedition. We also were working to solve our communications problems by calling a lot of groups to help us. We also learned how to pack the black box and the trailer so that we can be organized. We also learned a lot of organization such as how to put things in the same spot so that we can find them easier. We learned that it is important to get to place on time because the team will be late sometimes on the expedition. I had a great time on this expedition with the team. 

A very, very, SOaR-(E) Sherman

Personal Info Blog Entry: ____   Sherman                   2/15/12

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                Over the past two weeks I’ve been in West Texas.
I’ve gone swimming, backpacking, and have done lots of reading and drawing, and sometimes writing in my journal.

On ex, we sometimes are handed worksheets that are called ‘schoolwork.’ In reality there just print-out copies of a National Parks guest-guide and we’re told to read them and then do a quick-write on them.

Over the time I have spent here I have only gotten sore feet, constant pulsing headaches and sleep-deprivation. While I will digress that the Carlsbad Caverns were stunning and extraordinary to walk through, and the hiking had pleasant views- when I had the chance to look around and not be prodded by field-staff- everything else about Soar is unpleasant, and overly demanding.

Furthermore- I feel disregarded much of the time when I try to voice  my opinion sometimes, while heard other times- I feel that the majority of other times I am not heard.

This troubles me.

I wish to become a performer so I can be aptly recognized for my abilities in writing, and artistic design, as well as the need to self-regulate my daily tasks- NORMAL society tasks- such as clearing my inbox, regularly updating my art and writing pages with my works, informing my family of my current state, checking in with my guidance counselors and therapists, and most importantly of all: relieving my stress through writing. Writing helps me the most, and for the most part, Soar has aggressively denied me this when I require it the most.

I am quite capable of self-managing and advocating for my needs, and I am quite mature for my age. The staff here at this place does not seem to recognize that. I am unable to operate at full functionality do to the troubling fact that they deny me many of the things that help me regulate my stress, and more importantly: My anger, I hate getting angry but that can sometimes not be helped and I am learning to control that said anger.

I have now been allowed to call my therapist once every week on Tuesday, sometimes I can advocate for an emergency session with her when the need arises, but I am hoping that it does not come to that.

coley blogge twe

COLEY OBRIEN BLOG 2/13/12

I think that the most fun thing was the hot springs in Texas. It was a lot of fun. We got to swim across the border of Mexico. It was cold but a lot of fun. But the most fun thing was going hiking in Big Bend, and the cool sites that we got to see and do. It was the trip of a life time. I mean how many kids get to go to the west side of Texas and spend all the school time outside and not sitting in a class room and doing nothing, and playing  games indoors. I love the outdoors and hate sitting down in a class room and listening to a teacher talk and you don’t  get to do anything but sit and listen.

Second Expedition Blog by Evan Harr

On this expedition, the weather was very strange. At the first campsite, the wind wouldn’t stop, and it interfered with a lot of things. It made it hard to carry out tasks. The cool part was that our first campsite was next to the hike we made to the highest point in Texas.

We had a shortened backcountry experience, but it was still pretty cool. We also got to swim in a pool at a state park. It had fish and turtles in it. It also had a high and low dive. There was also a really cool natural hot springs right next to the Rio Grande. We got to swim both of them, and the river was really fun to swim in against the current. It was right next to Mexico and I touched a rock right in front of it. There, we learned about some cool things like the cliff swallows.

The backcountry was kind of interesting and fun. We did some school and cooked some cool meals. It was an interesting backcountry experience, especially because some of the trail we walked on was in a water basin and really rocky. As we were leaving, there was also a mountain lion attack, so we had to go a different way in order to get out.

Texas was a very different experience to me. We saw some cool birds, javelinas, and it was very hot. There was also a lot of wind, and it felt different everyday we were there.

Texas soar miles gibson

  Blog   SOAR   2-13-12

We just got back from our 2^nd expedition from west Texas, and it was pretty cool out there. We landed in El Paso Texas, where we then went straight to Wal-Mart to have a food buy for the next two weeks. We then headed to a very windy camp site where we stayed for several days; it wasn’t my favorite campsite in the world. Mostly we just did school there but we also went to Carlsbad Caverns and the visitor’s center, where we did more school. The wind made it hard to cook so we had cold trail pizzas for one night.

After that we went to another windy campsite inside of Big Bend Nat’l Park, where we all got our own two liter of soda to drink. This of course was totally necessary for the back country in Big Bend.

 We then left to go to the backcountry where we hiked about 5 miles the first day 3 the second. It would have been more but falcons decided to steal our trail. Then we hiked two miles the last day. We saw a few people on the way informing us of a mountain lion attack that happened on our first day in the backcountry so we weren’t supposed to be in that area, whoops.

We finally got out of the backcountry and went back to El Paso, went to a buffet and came back to N.C.

Thomas Kelly ~Expedition 2~

What do I bring to the table?

            It is often wondered by members of a group what each individual member brings to help better the group or what role they play to have a positive connection with the rest of the group.

            For me personally, I have been told in our feedback sessions that I have the disposition of a natural leader.  This seems to be what I bring to the table as an individual. But I have also realized that my area in which I am a good leader is found in looking at the big picture and seeing what needs to get done as a whole.  While this is indeed an excellent skill to possess, I find myself having a hard time braking down the big picture into the tiny details.  I will undoubtedly be able to correct this with the help of the other students and the staff. The result is that for me my greatest strength is also the cause of my greatest weakness.  This being that, although I get things done, that I need to evaluate some situations in greater detail.

            My leadership skills have helped me constantly throughout this semester at SOAR. For example, I am able to get things done quickly and efficiently and I am able to help keep everyone, including myself, to stay on task.  My greatest struggle with being a natural born leader is to step back and to enable others to gain the skills of being a leader and being able to grow and to take charge.

Texas Expedition Blog By PJ Perlitz

There were a lot of great things that came from working as a team on the Texas expedition. The great thing about being part of a group is that you don't have to do everything yourself. This expedition our group really learned to work together and get things done quickly. We got along much better as a group and everyone put in a great effort to do their part in helping the group. The best part of being part of our group this expedition was simply getting along with everyone. It was great because we were able to have a lot of fun as a group and we shared a lot of good times. The biggest challenge our group had was communication problems. We solved this by having groups and coming up with productive ways to tell each other how we are feeling when problems arise. The most important lesson I learned this expedition was that even the best groups can have their struggles it just matters how you handle them. In the end our group had a great expedition and we had a lot of fun together.