1. Emily Waldo
10/29/15
Block 2/Project Adventure
When I signed up for this course last spring, I was dreading even the thought of it, since
during my high school experience I had never taken a “gym” class. I transferred from a school
where you were judged daily by every person who walked by you, and I had known next to
nothing about Portsmouth High. I feared a repeat of my freshman year; my head kept down and
sitting alone at a lunch table where people would stare and whisper at. Not making true friends
until the year was almost over. My past experiences kept me from being able to step forward and
kept me from being the first one to speak. When I found out that someone from my middle
school was also in the class, I felt even more panicked. Middle school was one of the worst
experiences I had ever encountered. I feared that those I spent time with didn’t grow up and I
would experience even more bad times. Many of my friends can testify to the fact that I do not
trust very easily, and the thought of having to climb and trust people I hardly even knew made
me feel very uneasy. However, as we went through ice breaker after ice breaker and challenge
after challenge, something started to change. Not only within myself but within the others as
well.
It started with me whispering ideas on how to solve a certain challenges and the girls,
Keegan, Emma, Elaina, and Charlotte would hear me. They would then announce that I had an
idea and tell the group what my idea was so that I didn’t have to. When the girls did this for me,
it made me feel hopeful. They heard what I said and took the time to help tell the others and I
was taken seriously. No one ever did this without laughing or making fun of it in some way
before so when they took it seriously and made the others take it seriously as well, it made me
feel important. I was shocked and I felt the bonds of trust start to form between the girls and

2. Emily Waldo
10/29/15
Block 2/Project Adventure
myself. Eventually, I could with full confidence, yell across the ropes course to someone to ask
them for a hand and they would not make me feel bad or disliked, as I used to feel.
I could feel the confidence building as changes began to occur when the class did the
final trust fall exercise. (Best Zip in the State!) I had been the first to volunteer to fall and I was
actually very nervous. Falling straight back into the arms of my classmates didn’t make me feel
very safe. When I stood up on the top stair with my arms crossed, my heart had been pounding
and I almost felt too scared to fall back. Then I took a deep breath, said the commands, and fell
back. I almost can’t find the words of the feeling when you hit the zip and you know that they
actually caught you and you didn’t hit the ground. I think it was around then that I began to truly
trust the males of my class. Something that hardly ever happened. I encountered a lot of pain
with males that were close to me so it made it nearly impossible for me to even think that I could
be friends with the male species. Quite recently, we were given “awards” (posted notes with our
names on them) and Joey Auger was the one to present me my award. I actually nearly cried
because of the nice things he said about me and to me, someone who felt out casted in middle
school and spent every recess in the library. The pain of middle school had completely vanished
when he first spoke my name to give his “speech” about me. I don’t even have the words to say
how happy I was and still am now.
The final class activity that caused myself to trust even more was the giant's ladder. This
was a two person activity and I thought it would be pretty easy but as I climbed higher I realized
that it was very difficult. I was teamed up with Tim (Dictator Tom) and when we started to work
together, I got even more nervous. I had always done a task by myself and I was completely out
of my comfort zone. However I found myself in a completely different mindset, because Tim

3. Emily Waldo
10/29/15
Block 2/Project Adventure
was scared too and he had no problem saying so. I actually felt safer knowing that my teammate
was just as scared as I was. You don’t nearly fall off (or fall off in Tim’s case) the giant’s ladder
and not be friends with your partner who kept you from falling instead of pulling you both over.
An example of “Full Value Commitment” in my own eyes.
However, this was just my own personal growth. The class had grown just as much as I
did. It was made perfectly clear to me when Charlotte, someone who was afraid of heights, was
determined to complete “The Leap of Faith”. It was high off the ground and the person at the top
of the pole had to leap (because there is no jumping in PA) to a bar that was several feet higher
and several feet away from the pole. It was kind of cold and the harnesses hurt when you missed
the bar. Charlotte made sure that all of us knew how much she hated it, but when we asked if she
would like to be let down. She said yes, but then she changed her mind and was determined to
make the jump. “Challenge by Choice” in its proper environment, where someone knows they
don’t have to continue but the do so anyway. It took her a total of five times but when she made
the jump everyone was cheering. When she came down; everyone in the class went running up to
her and gave her a hug and told her how proud we were. It was a basically a huge class group
hug.
I believe that everyone in the class has grown in some way and I don’t think that I could
have been accepted in a better way. I feel so much more together and confident rather than the
scared and lonely girl I was when I was younger. This class has helped me to see that people can
change and I don’t have to be that girl who always keeps her head down. I have never enjoyed a
class as much as I enjoyed this one and I will miss not only the class but the bonds that we had
formed together as Block 2. I am so much more confident in my own skin than I ever was. Thank

4. Emily Waldo
10/29/15
Block 2/Project Adventure
you for such an amazing experience. I will never forget it. When I step forward into adult hood, I
will always talk about the amazing class that I had that changed my life for the better. I plan to
use these experiences to help me with my job that I dream of having, helping people come back
into society from the seclusion of a mental ward.