Experiences during Academic Discovery at SOAR 2010

This blog is written by the students of SOAR during their time at Academic Discovery during the summer of 2010.

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My Fly Fishing Adventures
By Christopher lane

10,2. 10,2. 10,2. The most important casting method you have to know in order to be a good fly fisherman is the 10-2 rhythm. It helps to imagine a giant clock floating in the air beside you. When you bring your rod back, it should be directed at the ten. When you bring your rod forward, it should be directed at the two.

It all started when I was sitting at home watching TV, when my dad came in and told me to go outside with him. So I did. He handed me a weird version of a fishing rod, and told me that he was going to teach me how to fly fish. I wasn’t too excited, but I just let him teach me.
He guided the fishing line through the holes on the rod. The fishing line was not like regular fishing line. It was a green rubbery line with really thin and clear line attached to it. Then he said, “let’s get to work.”
My father told me that the most important thing that I need to know about fly-fishing is how to cast. I remember him advising, “pretend that there is a giant clock floating in the air, and that you need to bring your rod back to ten, and forward to two.”

I started to grasp the casting concept very slowly. I did not do well the first time I tried, but by no means did I give up. After a while it started to seem easy. I remember the first place that my dad took me fly-fishing. He took me to the Green River in North Carolina. He kept reminding me to bring my rod to ten, and then to two. After an hour or two - just as I was getting really impatient - I caught a baby trout. As I was reeling it in, I didn't know if the trout would escape, or that my line would break, or what. The fish didn't escape. I was really excited. It was a little rainbow trout. As soon as I reeled it in, I told my dad that the trout was gorgeous.
About five to seven months later, I started to excel at fly-fishing.
I had then moved on to fishing at the Davidson River in North Carolina. It has a fish hatchery there. There are some big trout there that seem the size of an Italian loaf of bread.

My favorite river would have to be the South Holston River in Tennessee. The South Holston is a really pretty river with crystal clear water. The South Holston has a few rainbow trout and plenty of brown trout. About a month ago, our friend Josh who is a river guide, took my dad and I fishing at the South Holston. I caught a net full of brown trout and a few rainbow trout.
If I’ve had a rough day, or I am mad at my mom or dad, I’ll go down to the lake in my neighborhood, and I’ll fish my heart out. Then I’ll always come home with a great big smile on my face. Well, there you have it - I LOVE FISHING!!!!!

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JACK

By Ashley Ellen Ball

Jack was my miniature French poodle and his birthday is February 6. He’s a rescued dog. When I got him my parents told me his story. His former owners never took him out and starved him of food and water. They beat, abused, and abandoned him. I was shocked when my parents told me that when the rescuers found him he had blood all over his back. It was amazing that after all he had been through he was so playful. His very first toy was a red and blue tug-of-war rope. He loved playing with it so much. Though, he had heart and lung problems so as he aged there were more and more trips to the vet. Even though he had all those health issues, he still loved to play.
Then his health started to deteriorate. He made this awful gagging sound. The vets said he’d probably live two more weeks, but Jack pulled through. He stopped gagging, he played a little more often, and he didn’t look like he was in pain all the time. Unfortunately, dogs have a way of not showing pain for the sake of their human companions. Jack’s health started getting worse and worse. He gagged more often than before. I always had to be calm around him. Then, on March 29, 2010, my parents gave me the news. Jack was dead.
I was heart-broken. I told myself that Jack would want me to be happy for him now that he’s not in pain anymore. He’s in Heaven with God, watching over all of my other animal companions and me. Jack lived twelve long years. Still, it was hard for me to adjust. Whenever I would get home, I would expect to have Jack run to me or start barking with excitement since I was home. I would even think about calling his name before I realized, Jack was gone. I lost my best pal that day, a pal that can never be replaced by anyone or anything in the whole world. Even though he has departed, I still keep him close to my heart. I even still have Jack’s old tug-of-war toy. It’s a reminder to me of what great friends we were, and still are.




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The Second Day of the Trip to Pisgah Forest

By Adam Tillar


When we woke up the second day of the trip in Pisgah Forest, we had to get down the bear bag. A bear bag is a bag of food that you have to hang in a tree so the bears can’t eat it.

When we left the campsite we were undecided on which way to go. We split in two groups and went in different directions. One group found the way and alerted the others.

When we finally went the right way we didn’t stop until we hit a intersection to have lunch. We kept going until we crossed another group. After that we had a couple of stops to drink but kept going. When we finally got to the campsite we set up camp, got water, ate, hung up the bear bag, and made a campfire. After that we went to bed. After such a long day, it was relaxing to finally get into a sleeping bag.

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The first day of our three-day back packing trip in the Pisgah

By Adam Cowen

Forest was tiring. The first day of backpacking we got up from Camp SOAR. We went down to the bathroom to brush our teeth, and go the bathroom. We made sure we had all our gear ready to go backpacking.

During the van ride to the forest, we listened to hip-hop, rock and country and played fun games. We played ‘my cow’ and did riddles. When we finally got to the trailhead we had lunch. We got water and had a bathroom break, and made sure we had all of our gear. Then we left for our back packing trip. Backpacking trip we hiked for two and a half miles to get to the campground, the campground had a square with small rocks in it. That was where we ate and cooked. We slept under tarps.

While the cooks were cooking the other people in the group set up the tent. We made pizza for dinner. After dinner we hung the bear bag. The bear bag has all of the food we did not use from that day. Then we fell asleep. After our most tiring day of the trip we were happy to sleep.

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High Ropes

By Peter

The high ropes at soar are scary for people that are afraid of heights. First you have to climb up a ladder. Then you will lay or sit on rope and slide over to the other side. Next you will walk on a wire. Then you walk over a log, which is the hardest part. Finally you would go down a tree by a rope.


The zip line is fun because it is fast and it feels like you are flying. The high ropes get rid of your fear of heights.


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Low Ropes

By Hans Horst-Martz

Low ropes are like high ropes but they are three feet off the ground. It is a great team building exercise.

First you have to do a lot of trust exercises with the whole group. Then you can move on to the low ropes course.

There are a lot of different exercises that you can do with the group. My favorite one is the giant seesaw. The goal is to get the whole group on the seesaw without the ends touching the ground.

That’s just one example. There are lots of different activities. After spending hours with the low ropes course, it’s easy to see how it’s a team building exercise.

Swimming

By Hans Horst-Martz

It doesn’t matter what time of year it is: I just love swimming. There is nothing better than jumping into an ice-cold pool on a hot summer day. It is refreshing and it recharges my batteries. It’s fun yet it’s exercise at the same time. You can also get all of your friends together and go swimming with them. Swimming with friends is even better than swimming alone. Swimming is a great way to get your friends together and share a healthy activity.

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High Ropes

By Jefferson Luce

The high ropes course was kind of hard at first but then I thought it got easier along the way. The most fun thing on the ropes course was probably the zip line. You had to crawl across a rope and then walk across a wire then you had to go across a log and then you were at the zip line. That was the first time I had ever been on a zip line.


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Dwayne Wade

By Christian

Dwayne Tyrone Wade is a famous basketball player who grew up on the south side of Chicago. He went to Harold L. Richards High School and graduated and went onto playing at Marquette University. He was drafted as the 5th pick in the first round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat. He quickly began to take over the role as the leader of the team by avergaing 17 points and 5 reounds and 5assists his rookie year.
The next year Shaquille Oneal was traded to the Heat from the Los Angelos Lakers. After that trade the Heat and D-Wade everything went up hill. Dwayne Wade and his stats improved a lot this year as he averaged 26 points in the playoffs that year. Also Shaq and D wade became good friends and became basically “wingmen”.
Dwayne Wade is a beast in the playoffs, he just shines in the playoffs. The next year he and Shaq made it into the playoffs for the 3rd straight year but this time they just dominated and made it into the NBA Finals. Dwayne has 42,38,46 points in 3 of the playoff games which all turnbed into wins. They ended up winning the NBA Finals after coming from a 0-2 deficit winning the next 4 games and clinching the victory in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Since he leaded the Heat to the Finals he won the NBA Finals MVP trophy as he ended with averaging 34.7 points a game. Which happens to be the 3rd highest total in the NBA Finals history.
In 2006-2007 season Wade was hit with multiple injuries and missed 31 games and came back but later dislocated his shoulder and missed another 23 games. He finished the season with a loss in the playoffs and an average of 27.4 points a game.
The next season with Wade battling surgery and pain he struggled. The team did its worse yet with NBA’s worst record for the season of winning only 15 games. But the next year Wade and the Heat acquired the number 2 pick of the draft and drafted a young talented Michael Beasley.
With him and Wade leading the pack the Heat they got back into the playoffs. The Heat happened to be the first team to ever get into the playoffs after winning 15 games or less the year before.Wade that year won the scoring title and finished 3rd in the MVP race even though he had better points, assists, blocks, steals than both Kobe and Lebron.
In the 2009-2010 season he was healthy and on the third game of the season he scored his 10000 career point against the Bulls. 7 games later he dunked on Anderson Varejao, a 6’10 power forward. This happens to be one the the greater dunks of all time. This year again he led the Heat to the playoffs but lost in a close batle to the Boston Celtics who ended up winning the Eastern Conference Finals, but lost to the Los Angelos Lakers in the NBA finals. Wade finished this year with an average of only 26 points a game.
Now he his off the Heats contract and has become a free agent. It is still up in the air whether or not he is going to re sign witht hem or sign a new contract with another team. The Heat have a lot of contract room to where they can sign him and another player such as Lebron James or Chris Bosh who also are off contract this year. I hope Dwayne is smart enough to stay with the Heat after all the success he has had as a player and as a team.

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*****Apart from caving, students also did fun-yaking, rafting and hiking. You can see photos from the fun-yaking trip at this website: www.tuckshot.com