Two of my days in January were filled with knee-bruising falls, an interview with Abe Lincoln, and sitting in a mono-ski while I attended the Lake and Peninsula School District's Leadership Ski Retreat. The retreat consisted of three older students in the Leadership program (Sasha, Sam, and I) and three newer students (Jennifer, Caylen, and Jarin). In addition to LPSD students, there were twelve students from the Chugach school district. We were there to learn how to downhill and cross country ski, share our leadership lesson plans with Chugach, and create new lesson plans for the 2010-2011 school year.
The LPSD Leadership program is a program where students can help promote leadership qualities. In the past, the lesson plans we present were created by teachers. The goal when the Leadership program was established was to make the program entirely student organized. We are very close to that goal since we developed drafts of our own lesson plans. Before we worked on the lesson plans though, we learned how to ski. The LPSD students drove down to Girdwood where we met with Challenge Alaska.
Challenge Alaska is one of the most amazing programs I have ever heard of. The place in Girdwood helps disabled people learn how to ski and snowboard at Alyeska, but the Challenge Alaska program is something that goes on throughout the state with various recreative sports. While we were there, they explained to us that every human has basic needs and sometimes people don't realize that disabled people also have those same needs. Challenge Alaska meets the needs of people who are physically and mentally disabled to recreate and to have fun. We met a 17 year old guy named Andrew who was once a top wrestler in his age group in the nation. Wrestling was one of his passions in life until he broke his back in a four-wheeler accident when he was in his early teens. He said it took him a couple of years until he found Challenge Alaska and another passion in life. He learned how to ski on a freaky looking contraption called a mono-ski, which he let everyone sit in. I almost fell over, but another Challenge Alaska volunteer was holding it so I was saved from the embarrassment. Andrew is one of many people who Challenge Alaska has helped reach their full potential. We were lucky enough to be taught by those same instructors.
My instructor's name was Michael. He helped me get back up again after each fall (metaphorically and sometimes literally). I am so thankful for his kindness and patience... without them I don't think I would love skiing so much. I spent one day sliding down the slopes of Alyeska and I loved it! I definitely crashed, fell, slipped, and made a lot of mistakes, but that's how I learned to be better. I was a little freaked out when I had to go down a steeper slope (I actually ended up sliding down on my butt, instead of standing) but Mike and Sam Foss (another student from Pedro Bay) and her instructor all helped me get down the hill and realize that even if something is kind of scary, you just need to follow through. We eventually made it down the hill... and even though I was scared skiing down it, I'm glad I was faced with that challenge.
The end of the day came much too quickly, but we went to talk about our experiences and share with everyone what we l earned. I was tired out so I slept most of the drive back up to Anchorage. When we got to the Anchorage house, we started working on our leadership curriculum. We also presented the leadership lesson plan (an interview with Abe Lincoln) to the Chugach students. The goal of this lesson was to help students realize how important finding a passion and standing up for what they believe in is.
The next day we were taught how to cross country ski by Kirsten, one of the facilitators at the School to Life Program. We didn't get to go out as early as we planned since it was too cold, so we used that time to develop our lesson plans a bit more. When we finally were able to get out, I found it frustrating at first. I fell down way more than I did when I was learning to downhill ski (and the fall-downs were significantly more painful). It seemed like I would never get the hang of gliding and coordinating pushing with my feet and the poles. I didn't want to give up, even though it seemed like I wasn't getting anywhere. We took a break for lunch and got to eat at McDonald's (yay!) before we went back out on the trails. We learned how to go down a hill which, thankfully, was very similar to going down a hill slowly in downhill skiing. After awhile I realized that I wasn't struggling as much skiing and I found a steady rhythm while sliding on the snow. It became more and more relaxing and although it was a workout, it made me feel so peaceful and happy. Thanks to Kirsten I now have a newfound love of cross country skiing!
The leadership retreat was very productive... we played hard but we also worked hard and finished fairly comprehensive drafts of two lesson plans on encouragement and initiative. While at the retreat, I found two things I love to do: downhill and cross country ski. I hope that I can learn how to be better at both. I want to continue cross country skiing here in Igiugig and I'm not-so-patiently waiting until it will snow so I can go out and ski. Hopefully it will snow soon!!
by April Hostetter - 12th Grade
