While at the VSFA Cadet Academy I was introduced to many different people from many different places that were in many different parts of firefighting. The environment there was different than what I had expected before hand. When I first got there I was introduced to a new way of living that previously I had never had to handle, such as firefighting uses similar training and ranking systems used by the military. Me and my fellow cadets had to have our hats forwards with our shirts tucked in at all times. When we got up every morning we would be brought out in front of the flag pole and do a ceremonial raising of the flag as well at night lowering of the flag. While this was happening we were put in lines with our lieutenant  and faced forward with our hand behinds our back. One of the first things they said was to never lock your knees because you could pass out. I never really understood why that was but in the end was glad that I never passed out while standing at attention. After raising the flag every morning we would be walked in for breakfast and after breakfast we would go do activities. Those activities were never the same, one day we would go out to the burn building and have a smoke machine going and the cadets would have to go inside and do a search of the building looking for a dummy. Other days we would do competitions. Those competitions consisted of which group could role out hose line connect all the hoses and be able to shoot down a sign with water. After those activities we would go and do a two to three hour session in the classroom sometimes learning about fire extinguishers sometimes learning about wild land fires. One day while I was at the academy we took a trip to the Rutland fire department and was given  a full tour of there facility. We learned things about theres trucks as well as how each call to the fire department was received and given to the firefighters. We got to look at almost all there trucks and at the end suit up in our full gear and go through a obstacle course that they had set up for the cadets. it was challenge and I managed to break a face shield and a mask during the course. Overall I enjoyed the experience it was definitely helpful for me to understand exactly what I need to do to become a fire fighter. This experience has also opened doors to new friends that have already helped me learn and better my self. I met a paramedic at the academy that invited me to training days in Manchester for there fire department and I have loved all of them so far. I plan to continue going to these training sessions and when I turn 18 I will start volunteering at the Manchester fire department.

      During the week of the camp, we did many things that truly changed my perspective. The ocean is declining at such a rapid rate, and it is because of us. The trash, the oil, the abuse of supplies is all leading to the oceans downfall. I learned about how each organism relies on each other to create a balanced ecosystem. When one vital species goes down, they all do. We did many hands on things like: weeding the corral in the wet lab, dissecting crustaceans, and examining barnacles under a microscope. We were also very grateful to be take to Moose Point Park and Acadia National Park, where we went tide pooling and collecting seaweed samples to extract pigments from, in the lab. This experience was absolutely worth it and I couldn't be more grateful. Throughout the week I became more aware of the current and future problems with the ocean. I also had the chance to shape my future career into something I feel comfortable saying, "this is what I want to do". 

 These are just a few photos that summarize some of the experiences that I have had so far here in Australia! I have been having the best time, I have met so many kind people and have already met lifelong friends. I have been attending Pittwater High School and it has been so great, the teachers, students and community have been so kind and welcoming. I have been in school for 10 weeks and just got on my two week break from school! Over my two week holiday I will be going to the beach a lot and just doing so many fun things with friends and family. I am so lucky to be able to stay with my aunt, uncle and two cousins, it has been so great and I have been able to form even stronger relationships with them.

Some of these pictures are from my first time surfing, Thredbo which is a ski resort I went down to with my family for a vacation, my friends and I at a 16th birthday party, the opera house, some of my friends and I on my birthday, the view from my backyard, the beach that is right across the street from my house, my family and I at a big soccer game, my friend and I at the top of Palm Beach headland, and many other fun things. 

I am so grateful for the very generous help from the Brown Family! I am only half way through my time here in Aussie and I have been having the absolute best time! Reflecting on my time halfway here, I have just had the most amazing experience. I have been enjoying it so much that I have started to think about going to University here in Australia. For anyone that is considering studying abroad I 100% recommend it! I still have three months here but I already know this will be one if not the best experience of my life! 

 Going into into camp the only things I really expected from it was to learn how to jump, lots of rules and being home sick. At Brown Ledge camp I had the opportunity to try not one but three new different ways of riding. I learned how to jump, perform dressage, and I made drill team. Within the first week of camp I was riding 2-3 times a day. We had dressage testing within the first 2 weeks of riding and I won my class, then we had a drill show and jumping/flat work show, which allowed me to demonstrate what I have learned within a small amount of time. There were no unreasonable rules at camp at all, we were all free to do whatever activity we wanted. The barn at brown ledge gave us the option to adopt a horse for the summer that you would be responsible for, this allowed me to show I could handle more responsibility. Going to this camp was the best decision I have ever made, I learned so much and the environment was beyond amazing. I made such good friends and have better confidence in riding, I am unable to explain how grateful I truly am. I soon learned that Brown ledge camp is home, and I'm going to be homesick until I return.  

This summer, from July 9th to 29th, I went to Maine College of Art in Portland Maine for their pre-college program. This program mimics a semester of college at the school. Everyone had two majors, and mine were commercial illustration and fashion and textile design. I also took a life drawing class where we drew live models. I enjoyed doing all these classes and being with the other students a lot, because doing art is my favorite thing in the world. I like to do any kind of art, and being surrounded by people who are just as positive about it was amazing. 

My favorite class was fashion and textile design, which is great because it was my third choice for my second major when I applied, but I got lucky because I ended up liking it a lot!! This is one of the great things about this experience because I learned I like doing stuff with clothing and designing art to go on the body. In this class I learned all about sewing, designing fabric, and making clothes that convey a feeling or  can be used in a functional way. For my final project in the class I made a dress. It did not turn out as well as I had hoped but that's okay because it was the first clothing I have ever made and there's always room to improve. 

Over the three weeks I learned about being more independent and how to adjust following a fuller schedule of many more hours of classes a day than I'm used to. Here's an example of a day for me:

• wake up 7:30 ish
• breakfast 8:00-9:00
• major 1 9:00-12:00 
• lunch 12:00-1:00
• major 2 1:00-4:00
• life drawing 4:30-6:30
• dinner 6:30-7:30
• studio time 7:30-9:30
• go back to dorms, curfew at 10:30

Over the summer I went to MedQuest. It was a five day program that was supposed to be all about mental health, but we end up doing so much more. When I first got there they told us that some of the activities they had planned for us had fallen through, but our amazing counselors stepped up and helped us to have a great time. 

I had never stayed in a college dorm before, so that was probably the first super exciting thing to happen, for there it only got better. I went to a mental health facility that takes care of people once they get out of hospitals or people with life long diseases like scitzophrenia. ...  will add more tomorrow (9-20-17)

I was fortunate enough this past summer to attend the Governors Institue of Vermont(GIV) for environmental science at the UVM campus for a week. There were three main focuses of the course, therefore three groups, Soils, Lakes, and Streams. I was in the soil group and we walked everywhere, we walked through suburbs and streets, taking soil samples from different sites, then going back to the lab and texting the lead content in the soil samples. I really enjoyed this experience because while I was learning and getting a better introduction to a whole other world within the one I thought I was so enveloped, I was making friends and building connections, and thats always nice. GIV showed me what I really like about Environmental science, and showed me what I really don't like about the technology piece. I learned that I enjoy the field far more than the technological piece.

During the course of the two days, I learned the basics of first aid in the wilderness. We started the weekend off with learning the proper way to check someone's vitals and their body for any sign of injury. 

Over this summer I was lucky enough to take a internship at the Langway Auto's Dealership in Manchester VT. When I was presented with the chance to take a internship at a car dealer ship I jumped at the chance to take it. Not to be too Cliche but Im one of those guys who was "born with gas in my blood". For as long as I can remember I have said that I want to work on cars for a living. I can thank this passion to my father who also happens to be a gear-head. Ever since I first turned "old" enough to help him work on cars I knew that its what I wanted to do. I had worked on cars with him and all my friends, whenever I got the chance. But that was always just small maintenance jobs that anyone could do in a backyard! I knew going to Langway meant I get to really learn the trade and have a far better understanding of how engines work. During my time at Langway I was able to work with the "nitty gritty" bits of an engine such as a camshaft and valves. Even learned the long tedious process repairing rust of the body of a car! This internship was life changing for me. Before I just wanted to find a job as a mechanic or something I didn't really have any big goal or plan for my future, But thanks to the brow family I have completely changed my path. Now I plan on going to a good college and trying to get a degree in business management and opening my own garage, or something along those lines! If not for this internship I don't think I would be looking at colleges trying to build a future for myself. 

For the summer I interned at the Manchester Community Library. I completed graphic design projects for them as they needed them. Completing projects for the library gave me a nice opportunity to complete almost all of my work at home and only going to the library to go over projects or to be introduced to new projects.

My first project was to design a pamphlet for the libraries summer activities. It sounded easy enough at first but ended up taking me many hours and several times deleting everything I had and starting completely from scratch. I also had to teach myself everything about Photoshop and Illustrator, consulting the internet many times. The pamphlet was a fun project to work on and made me have to handle many technical difficulties. 

The project that I will be ending the summer with is designing all of the floor plans for the events that will be held at the library. I will be mapping out exactly how many tables and chairs can fit into a room, and making sure that these floor plans look really nice. The projects that I completed proved to be a challenge at times but were overall fun for me to do, and it allowed me to really test my skills in graphic design. 

 This program that I went to was called MedQuest. It was five days program. During this experience I got to shadow many medical professionals. I got to spend time in morning with doctors, nurses, and other professional. It was very fun and helpful to get to know their work involvement. I also got to experience many hand on activities during the week. For example I learned how to perform the CPR and also learned about the injection. We had our class section learning about how to get started thinking about colleges and what might be the right fit for me. I also got to meet more friends that have the same ideas about their career like I do. I can never forget about this experience. This program gave me a lot of experiences and a good strong foundation for me to build up my ideas about this career.

My experience with the BBA Tech Department was interesting and fun! I have and always had an interest in technology. This opportunity allowed me to realize what I want to do as a future career. Some things I learned that were completely new to me were how to database, take electronic inventory, and operate software on various devices. My biggest project was getting iPads ready to distribute to freshman. This includes restoring multiple iPads and registering the iPads to individual students. This took about a full 2 weeks of work. Another fun project I had was setting up Mr. Muench’s lab for cinema. What I had to do was download an image to a network server and connect each new iMac to the server. After they were connected I had to put the image, like restoring an iPad with a back-up, on each iMac. Overall I had a great experience and would do it again if I had the chance.

The experience I received funding for was to be in a program that would put me on the accelerated course to black belt. I got to paid to work with kids and teach them karate. I am now getting ready for my Black Belt test and have been able to help so many kids along this path. I worked three hours a week and had an amazing time teaching these kids. Teaching isn't always easy was a very valuable lesson I learned but when you finally get those pieces to click together it is amazing to know you took part in that.

When I started Black Belt Club I didn't believe it would accelerate my training to Black Belt so  rapidly. I skipped over my First Degree Brown and my Third Degree Brown. This took more than two years off of the time it would take me normally to get to Black Belt. I most likely would have been able to make it to Black Belt before I went off to college. Black Belt once seemed so far away and now it is weeks away that is an unbelievable difference now after lots of time and thought this experience made me realize that I want to follow karate and physical health as I move past high school. It gave me a new perspective on who I am which I am extremely grateful for.

         During this past week in Unity Maine, we did a lot of activities that made me think about how people take this world for granted. Our coral reefs are being ruined due to people not caring. We always think that the garbage is just hurting animals such as fish, penguins and larger mammals. What we dont realize that its also hurting smaller things in the ocean like the shellfish, different types of corals and even smaller organisms. I learned about how to take care of saltwater tank and how to properly care for corals. We learned how to weed corals, kill harmful anemones and which fish are beneficial to your tank and why. Days in the lab were fun because it was down time from all the other things we did. My favorite time working in the lab was when we were looking under the microscope at barnacles. Finding different things and figuring out what they were was super fun. We also went on a trip to Acadia National Park, Moose Point Park and Bar Harbor. During these trips we were taught about many different sea creatures and what they do throughout their days. One of my takeaways from this camp would have to be Thunder hole. Its a huge hole in the side of a cliff near the water and when the waves crash inside it sounds like a thunder clap. Throughout the week I got more interested in the ocean and the different creatures that live there. I can say that after this week, Marine biology would be something I could do for a career.