Written by Alumni Nicole WiznitzerWinner of the 2007 National Organization for Women Essay Contest, “I Am Beautiful”
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I was sitting under a blanket of dreamlike stars on a tiny island off the coast of Panama in the Caribbean Sea. As humid air blew onto my body that had not been washed in five days and counting, I heard in the background what I thought was life on Soledad Mandinga before I came: waves crashing up against the coral, someone playing a wooden flute in harmony with the perfection of little kids and their families saying good night.
There was no sarcasm in that heaven on Earth. There was no stress. There was harmony, safety, and love. There was acceptance, perfection at its core. There was beauty. And as I listened, I felt beautiful, too. |
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Written by Alumni Alli Sarazen
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Through my experiences with The Road Less Traveled I have discovered myself with staggering depth. The continuous waterfall of profound thought that has flowed from my experiences in Peru and Tanzania will never stop; these last two summers have given me the opportunity to witness the components of human nature, understand the validity of nonverbal communication, grow into someone I am proud to be, and contribute to the lives of others. As there is nothing greater in the world to me than knowing I have truly helped someone in some way, I am extremely appreciative of the opportunity that RLT has provided me to express this passion. I have witnessed first hand the monumental impact that simple gestures can produce: Holding the hand that reaches out for love; playing with a child who yearns for attention; showing a genuine interest in the culture of another. I do not mean to say that this can only occur in places unknown; anywhere in the world, these acts can produce a positive effect. It is the traveling, however, that helps one to realize that as people, we are fundamentally all the same. A positive impact can be expressed anywhere; a simple smile could brighten an entire day. |
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Written by Alumni and Leader Jake Abrahamson
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As a teenager, I let The Road Less Traveled carry me away on two adventures during consecutive summers before my freshman and sophomore years of high school. My fascination with RLT, however, began far earlier, when I was a mere twelve year old boy making acquaintance with the booklet that would devour my attention for the next four years. I was hooked by the brochure alone — its glossy photos; its distinctive scent that, despite my endless turning and turning of the pages, refused to fade; its grandiose program descriptions that hinted at an untouched wild world, far beyond my urban Chicago home, where adventure was still possible, where paths wound barely-tread through forests and mountains, or sometimes, in the wildest corners of the world, didn’t yet exist — those trails were mine to blaze. |
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Written by Alumni and Leader Tom Huntoon
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Memory is always a curious thing; I’m not sure any of us knows why exactly certain moments stick in our minds while floods of others get lost somewhere in our unconscious. What is most interesting is that some of us wind up basing our lives on those certain moments, the ones that are no more or less important than others except for the simple fact that we remember.
It was the summer of my fourteenth year, and I was with a group of teenagers from across the country at the Cougar Rock campground near Mt. Rainier. It was a few weeks into our seven-week trip, known as Water and Rocks. We arrived earlier that day after a long drive from Oregon, and we’d spent the afternoon being fitted for plastic mountaineering boots and ice-axes. I was so excited and nervous because the next day we were going to start our climb up a mountain so big and beautiful that it left me speechless.
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Written by Leader Annika Swanson
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It's hard to put into words what The Road Less Traveled has meant to me. I have always had a passion for the outdoors, foreign travel, cross-cultural understanding, and helping others. But leading for The Road Less Traveled transformed the way I thought about many of these things: it deepened my belief in the power and importance of the outdoors and the true value of all young people getting the opportunity to immerse and challenge themselves in the wilderness. The Road Less Traveled allowed me to befriend Costa Rican farmers, colorfully-beaded Kuna women in remote islands off the coast of Panama, and yak-herders in Northern India. However, none of these personal connections compares with the joy of facilitating and watching young people make their own connections — sitting with an RLT participant in a herder's stone hut; using our hands to make conversation with a wrinkled Ladakhi woman over hot butter tea and much laughter; seeing the elation on participants' faces as we returned to a Kuna island and were greeted by about 30 Kunas cheering and waving with excitement at our return; watching a participant determinedly confront his fear as he lowered himself nervously into a crevasse and, minutes later, glimpsing his beaming smile as he came climbing back up the ice wall. |
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