Adventure Treks Fall Leadership Adventure Semester

The 74 days I spent last fall were simply the best days of my life. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it is most certainly not. LAS (Leadership Adventure Semester) was 74 days filled with insanely fun journeys, challenges, and growth. The best part was being part of an incredibly inclusive, fun, supportive, and extremely close community. Last year, for many, was known as "the covid year." While this was not the case for all college students, I think many had a difficult year with limited social interactions. However, this was not the case for me. At LAS, we formed a bubble, and it was awesome. Since it was such a crazy year in terms of Covid, I think many people who came to LAS had their own unique stories of how they ended up there. But even though we all had these different stories, I can speak for everyone when I say that there could not have been a better way to spend a gap semester. I took a whole year off before I started college, and I had an incredible year overall. After LAS, I got my EMT certification, worked on a farm in Oregon, I interned at a recording studio, and worked as an EMT. All of it was awesome, however, LAS was easily the highlight. I made life long friends who I am still very much in touch with. In fact, after LAS, I've had many reunions with these people, which included a ski trip in Park City and several road trips. Also, I worked on a farm for two months with one of my best friends and cabin mate at LAS. We even had a big one-year reunion on zoom with everyone just a few weeks ago. If you are thinking about how to spend your semester, you really should consider LAS. You will make life long friends. I promise. The instructors were also incredible. They were all such amazing, supportive, fun-loving, and talented people. They also became some of my best friends. They took us on some amazing backpacking, canoeing, climbing, and mountain biking trips, teaching us and sharing all of their wisdom, helping us to become really solid mountain bikers, climbers, kayakers, and much more. A really awesome part of the semester was all of the certifications we have obtained. The Wilderness First Responder course was an amazing bonding experience, and we all learned so much. It even inspired me to continue with my certification and get my Wilderness EMT later in my year. Everything I learned at LAS has enabled me to do so much. I have gone on many backpack and canoe trips since with my friends, and LAS gave me the confidence and skills to do this. I am now at Bowdoin College in Maine, and here at school, I have jumped into leadership training for the Outing Club here. The reason I am able to do this was because of all my experiences at LAS. I cannot properly express how much gratitude I have for those 74 days last fall. It was an adventure of a lifetime.