This year I started my second year at the University of Cincinnati. I have been accepted into the Biomedical Engineering program. At the beginning of the year I was continuing in the University of Cincinnati Mountaineering Club (UCMC) as well as the Navigators (Navs). My roommate and a lot of my friends are in Navs. As time went on this year I found myself going to UCMC less and less while continuing to go to Navs at least twice a week. The community I was involved in seemed to all be in Navs and so that is where I gravitated. This pattern is significant for me because, although I enjoy UCMC, the people that I have relationships with are in a different community and so I was pulled into recreational activities with people I enjoy. I also chartered with Venturing Crew 960 out of Fairfield, Ohio in order to continue my involvement with scouting. Some other scouts who started at UC this year also joined the crew. Through the crew I participated in meetings and mentoring the newly elected president. I also helped them to build their website and networking system. I was unable to continue on staff for National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) because I had other commitments this summer. I was able to visit each course during the week and see how things were going, bring a treat for the staff, and visit with my good friends on staff. Through scouting, I was given the opportunity to be the first female scout speaker for the Dan beard Council’s Good Scout Award Luncheon. I spoke on the concept that ‘we change lives’ and I stated that I do not know that for any life better than my own. In preparation for this I had to reflect back on the all the scouting experience I had over the past five years and condense it down to five minutes. It was difficult for me to choose what details to leave in and what to summarize for brevity’s sake. I honored my adults and mentors in scouting and thanked them for changing my life and so many others’ for the better. I was excited, nervous, and proud to be representing my scouting family in front of so many people. This is an event that I will remember for the rest of my life. Whenever I need confidence to do or try something, this will be something I look back on and tell myself, ‘Look what you have done already, you can certainly overcome this challenge.’ Scouting is of course still very important to me and I would like to be an adult for youth in the way that my adults have been there for me.
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                One goal that I have for this next year is to continue to pursue and develop a mentoring relationship. My mentor from Navs challenged me to build a relationship with a girl who I was already friends with and to go deeper with her. Over this summer we have been unable to meet regularly, but my goal for the fall is to make it a priority to meet with her weekly. For this upcoming year, I would advise myself to stay dedicated to my goals and not get discouraged when I see failure.