Joshua Hooten
Cramer
College Comp. Period 3.
IDK The Date
Narrative Essay final Draft
Evaluate a significant experience and its impact on you.
Ever feel like you can fly, like you could leap off a mountain and sail away? This is what I felt when I was in Baños, Ecuador last summer, riding in the back of a pickup truck on a mountain road passing by waterfalls and scenic views. My church was going to raise money and mail it to my great aunt and uncle’s orphanage, but they told us they didn’t need money. They needed people to help for a one week Christian program they were trying to arrange for the children of Baños. So that’s when a group of parents decided to go and bring the teens with them. We started planning flights and making and receiving donations of clothes.
Baños was in the mountains, so when we stepped out of the plane not only was it cooler than I anticipated, but it was harder to breath at first because of the reduced oxygen. It was a totally new experience for my friends and I. The ride through the city was an awesome sight, the houses were all over the sides of the mountain, and they were all different colors. Once we got on the bus that would take us to Baños we started seeing the less populated parts of Ecuador. The mountains and valleys were beautiful and they were everywhere. When we reached the orphanage it was so different from the other houses, my great uncle had built it modernly, but with stone foundations. The entire orchard had hand made stone walkways and walls; I could see why it was called the Sweet Refuge. The boys that lived there were younger than me and half of them had grown up living in the jungle without parents. They had to survive by foraging and scavenging and had not gone to school or had a bed to sleep in. Seeing how they grew up I began to realize how lucky we are to live in the USA. In the US, we are made to attend school and we dream of not having it. In Baños schools are not readily available to the boys in the jungle and they appreciate to ability to attend school.
Another thing that influenced me was the fact that we grow up with video games, television and a whole lot more modern commodities that we take for granted as something that will always be available. But then I realized it’s not that they have less because they don’t have them, it’s that without all of America’s privileges they realize the other possibilities and have just as much fun doing them. The trip to Baños has made me realize the importance of trying hard to achieve the most I can and to appreciate that I have access to education through school.
Cramer
College Comp. Period 3.
IDK The Date
Narrative Essay final Draft
Evaluate a significant experience and its impact on you.
Ever feel like you can fly, like you could leap off a mountain and sail away? This is what I felt when I was in Baños, Ecuador last summer, riding in the back of a pickup truck on a mountain road passing by waterfalls and scenic views. My church was going to raise money and mail it to my great aunt and uncle’s orphanage, but they told us they didn’t need money. They needed people to help for a one week Christian program they were trying to arrange for the children of Baños. So that’s when a group of parents decided to go and bring the teens with them. We started planning flights and making and receiving donations of clothes.
Baños was in the mountains, so when we stepped out of the plane not only was it cooler than I anticipated, but it was harder to breath at first because of the reduced oxygen. It was a totally new experience for my friends and I. The ride through the city was an awesome sight, the houses were all over the sides of the mountain, and they were all different colors. Once we got on the bus that would take us to Baños we started seeing the less populated parts of Ecuador. The mountains and valleys were beautiful and they were everywhere. When we reached the orphanage it was so different from the other houses, my great uncle had built it modernly, but with stone foundations. The entire orchard had hand made stone walkways and walls; I could see why it was called the Sweet Refuge. The boys that lived there were younger than me and half of them had grown up living in the jungle without parents. They had to survive by foraging and scavenging and had not gone to school or had a bed to sleep in. Seeing how they grew up I began to realize how lucky we are to live in the USA. In the US, we are made to attend school and we dream of not having it. In Baños schools are not readily available to the boys in the jungle and they appreciate to ability to attend school.
Another thing that influenced me was the fact that we grow up with video games, television and a whole lot more modern commodities that we take for granted as something that will always be available. But then I realized it’s not that they have less because they don’t have them, it’s that without all of America’s privileges they realize the other possibilities and have just as much fun doing them. The trip to Baños has made me realize the importance of trying hard to achieve the most I can and to appreciate that I have access to education through school.