Final Reflection

I have been in ISK for about a good year and it has been a really good time being here. My objectives were simple, although it was hard to see in the first semester because I was just moving in. On the second semester my grades did improve and I am planning on leaving a mark on the school. I joined a lot of things that turned out to be really cool and interesting. When I came to Kenya I thought of a couple ways to use the country as my advantage. For instance, helping out orphans that are not getting enough food and clean water. That would be interesting on my college application and it would help me with some colleges. So when I came here my objectives were simple. Get good grades, try to join clubs that help me with my college life, and do some sort of community service to land me on a good college. But these clubs actually became more interesting and the fact that schools ending is scaring me into thinking it's over. Overall, I think my objectives have been completed, although I think my grades could have used a bit of help. MUN is a club I joined recently, and although I thought it was hard, it seems to be interesting and fun. Children's garden home, although I only joined to complete my objective and it was free, turned out to be so fun. I loved the kids there and I wish I could do something good for them. I did make the most donations, though. Karura forest is what I joined originally, but the fact that you have to pay for doing a public service was unacceptable. But I didn't realize I should change the service until one day the bus ditched me and I followed my friend to Children's garden home and I realized this was something I had in mind when doing a community service. I was successful in most ways, except grades and that is a problem I had in a long while. I tried fixing, and I'm just happy with the process I made now. Grades I can improve one step at a time, but the best part was Children's garden home mostly because it taught me a lot. I just wanted to use it as a stepping stone toward better colleges. Now it means a lot more. It taught me to really appreciate what I have given to me. I heard it a lot from my dad, but I was actually experiencing it. And this actually got me interested in doing different types of community services. I don't know what to do next, but if it's free I'll take it.

Creative

I'm going to join MUN. I've talked about it with Mr. Marshall, and after the break I will go to the meeting. I like doing these kind of things, but I never got the chance to this year, because by the time I found out there was a MUN in the school, it was a little too late to join. If I do go to the meeting, I'm not sure when I'm officially joining, but I think once I do I will really enjoy it.

Service Learning

I've recently changed my community service. I moved from Karura forest and I've switched to Children's garden home. I have a couple friends there, but I joined because I liked it a lot more than I've expected. It's an interesting experience, helping little kids. I've only heard of people doing these kind of things from Korea and the US, but when I got to do it myself it was much better than I thought it would be. I will continue doing it, and next year I will find out another to help out the community.

Activity

I have not been swimming as much as I should be. I wish I could change sports, but I'm not good at track and it will be hard for me to do sports in the morning because I live 45 minutes away from the school. But I do enjoy it, and my brother seems to be enjoying it as well.

Mount. Kenya

Steven You

            Mount Kenya was a challenge to a lot of us. But I enjoyed it, and if I had the same equipment in the same conditions I would have gone up again. I personally loved it. I didn’t think the trip would be worth it if I have just decided to give up. I never had more fun. I was a bit angry to find out how the Sirimon route got the easiest part. But overall it was a great experience. I had a lot of fun and I’ve been with my friends for a while.

Before I start to monologue I want I promised my dad and sister that if I can climb a mountain that size, I would make a goal in life just as high. And in my opinion, that is high enough. They said it was mental challenge more than a physical. Well, I learned that the hard way. The bathroom situation got me a little bit sad. But the food was better than expected. The trip was good and when I reached the top. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t realize how beautiful the world could be from a height. If I can recommend something, we should stay up longer on the peak. I think Kenya will be one of the most memorable countries after that day. I have never climbed a mountain half that size before. And when I saw the mountain, some doubt did come up in my head. I knew it was going to be disappointed if I didn’t try to climb the mountain. Climbing wasn’t as hard as I thought. But it was difficult enough for me to think about quitting mentally. I kept my promise so far, but I don’t think I should give up. I will try the hardest to raise my grades above average.

The environment up there was great, and the higher you went, the more the environment changed. I remember seeing a hyrax and a really fat bird that made me wonder how it flied. Unfortunately, I didn’t see some cool animals, like a panther or an elephant. If I did and if I’m able to tell you this tale, I would have had an adventure of my life. But the hyraxes were fun to look at and it was pretty funny how they ran away from people like us. And the plants looked pretty cool. The trees near the top were burned and that was interesting to look at. Apparently it was from some volcanic eruption that has caused it? I don’t know. But I know and I can tell that it was something like that. There was a plant called the “Stinging nettle” that I learned about the hard way. After the great pain I asked one of the guards to shoot the plant until we could kind of tell it was dead. Apparently that wasn’t what his job was, but I still think he should have. But anyways the rest of the plants looked the same. They looked like ordinary trees and plants for a very long while.

            Second tallest mountain in Africa. I feel accomplished. What would have been better is if I gotten rock climbing training and climbing the actual peak. But that would have been scary. I guess the school doesn’t have the best insurance when it comes to a bunch of kids falling off a cliff. But the peak was high enough for me to feel happy enough. We should have stayed up there longer and we should have been more encouraging so the whole grade could climb up. I was surprised at some people that didn’t make it. I was sure they would make it up. A lot of people I didn’t expect to reach the top did as well. People at the Sirimon made me a little bit angry. They didn’t have to even sleep in tents! Of course, we got to go there too, but they didn’t have to wake up and have the rain cover of the tent frozen when they had to climb up. But in my opinion it was still great.

service learning

Karura forest has been an interesting experiment and I really enjoyed it. I should have joined last time so I can be with the high schoolers, but it is pretty fun.

Activity

For some reason, I wasn't officially signed up for Swimming. I did about 2 weeks ago though, and now I am coming to swimming. Unfortunately, there was a lot of things I had to do so I haven't gone to swimming as much, but it still works.