One of the reasons why it has been hard for me to keep this blog up is because I have been out of town for a large portion of the summer. I was fortunate enough to get to spend the first week of my summer vacation at the beautiful Camp Royal. Camp Royal is a leadership camp that is sponsored by the Rotary Clubs in Rotary district 5160. The camp allows student leaders to learn about leadership and relaxation techniques, realize their "walls," have a lot of fun, make amazing friends, and truly be in the moment.
One of the stunning views of the striking Bar 717 Ranch
The LL nine. LL consistently has the largest group of students in attendance from any high school represented. I love these guys!!
One of Lain's inspirational talks
I met so many amazing people at camp. However, what I found truly incredible about many of the other campers is that we live very close to each other. Yet, we never would have met if we had not attended Camp Royal together because we attend different schools. After returning home from Camp Royal, I spent a few days working, then headed off to Newport Beach with my dad and wonderful best friend Paris. We saw Chapman University and Redlands University before continuing our trip down to Del Mar, CA. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world as I got to spend an incredible week with Paris and my other amazing friend Wesley. And of course, let's not forget the cameos by Emily and Sam, my So Cal friends.
I love them soooo much!!
Photo shoot
My sister's notorious birthday cake
Waiting for someone to buy deep fried butter
Almost immediately after getting home from Del Mar, I flew across the country for the first time to Washington DC to attend the Washington Journalism and Media Conference held at George Mason University. The WJMC was one of the most incredibly educational experiences of my life. After finishing the conference I felt like I had truly found something that I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. I've decided that I want to be a communications major with an emphasis in broadcast journalism in college, with my theatre minor of course.
In Washington our group was fortunate enough to get to hear from very distinguished speakers and visit a number of national monuments. For more information on this trip you can go to my old WordPress blog that I created for the conference: http://lesliehoward.wordpress.com/
On the balcony of the Newseum- one of the greatest places ever!!!
My best conference friend Sean! I miss him!
Upon my return from Washington, I slept for about 14 hours. Then was lucky enough to have eleven days at home to hang out with my friends who claim that I am "never home," work, and rest up before my next summer excursion. Also, in that period of eleven days, I had to pack. Two bags for ten days stuffed with a large portion of my wardrobe and some costume pieces.
My first stop was Stanford University, where I spent three days at the Positive Coaching Alliance's annual student conference. The Positive Coaching Alliance is a national non-profit organization that promotes learning life lessons through sports, instead of just striving to win. As with my other trips this summer, I met a lot of amazing people (and caught up with some of my conference friends from last year) and had a lot of fun. I even got back on the basketball court for a little while before my knees started to hurt.
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| All of the conference kids |
