Wait a second..could it be? I just added 14 people to my wolf pack.

Hello.

You might not know this, but I consider myself kind of a lone wolf. But where there was 1, now there is 15. We are now a pack of lone wolves.

Sorry for the delayed post, I was supposed to post this last night but got bogged down with lesson plans, bonfires, heart to hearts late at night in the mancave, working out, and manly stuff like that. Anyway, now that the trip is winding down I don't think its a stretch to say that this has been one of the most memorable 10 days of my life. Not to be corny/mushy, but the friends and memories that I've made on this trip will last a lifetime. I almost feel guilty because I feel like I got more out of KIPP Gaston than they did from me. Arturo and I were partners in an intercession class titled, "Sports and Life Skills". We covered many lessons that are transferrable between the two, and were able to show videos from Jimmy V, and Randy Pausch to our classes. At the end of our lecture we asked for some feedback, and thankfully not one person said a negative thing. That may have been because I intimidated them with my skills on the basketball court, and my rippling muscles..but I'd like to think otherwise :).

Kids will be kids everywhere, and the KIPP HS and Middle School were no different. But as a whole, the children were wonderful and were fun to be around. When preparing my lesson plan for the first day, I'll be the first to admit how nervous I was. At the time I did not consider myself a good public speaker, but after getting to spend 90 minutes for 3 days talking about something I love, sports. I think I developed skills that I will be able to apply into other aspects of my life.

Anyway, this post is getting wayyy too long, so I just wanted to give a shoutout to a couple of people. Brian Salyers taught a class on Fire Protection, and it was truly fascinating. I got to sit in on a couple of his lectures, and I felt like a kid watching his demonstrations on the characteristics of fire. Another shoutout to our awesome trip leaders, Clare and Elma and our staff advisor, Christina. They were amazing and this trip was about as close to flawless as possible.

My last shoutout is to the teachers at the middle school and high school. Wu, Cartwright, Russell, Naegele, Peter to name a few. But everyone we interacted with were awesome. They were all very helpful and enthusiastic in their dealings with us. The students at the KIPP Gaston schools are extremely lucky, and I can't see them doing anything other than succeeding!

-Matt