The Duke of Edinburgh's Award: My Adventurous Journey

                                                        

On December 1, 2013, I accepted the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Young Americans' Challenge, joining thousands of young people worldwide between the ages of 14 and 25.  Since I was new to this program, I chose to complete the Bronze award level with a 3-6 month time commitment. As a participant, I have been encouraged to examine myself, my interests, abilities, and ambitions and to set my own challenges in four different tenants of the award.  These challenges required persistence and determination. According to the US Award office, I am the first Iowan to join the DofE program!  I am honored and humbled to be the first. To set the path.

The 4 Duke of Edinburgh Tenants of Community Service, Physical Recreation, Skills and Adventurous Journey fit very well with the Miss America goals of Service and Success and with my preparation for Miss Iowa.  I am proud to share photos of my recent Adventurous Journey, May 20 - 23, to Antelope Canyon, AZ, the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, UT and Arches National Park, UT. While on this Journey, I worked on my landscape photography skills, hiked a 2-day backpacking trip with a 25 lb. pack on my back, camped every night without open fire and with only minimal impact on nature, and rock climbed for the first time ever. I will earn the Bronze Award this June. I look forward to promoting the Duke of Edinburgh program and achieving the Silver and Gold Awards in the next 2 years!

"To experience the world through endless second hand information isn't enough" - Travis Rice 

From the DofE Handbook page 14, Adventurous Journey. Aim: to encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery.  As part of a small team, you should plan, train for and undertake a journey with a clearly defined purpose in an unfamiliar environment. This will require determination, physical effort, perseverance and cooperation to complete. The journey can be an exploration or expedition.

Journey with your eyes open.

Two days of driving and we arrived!  Overlooking Lake Powell, AZ

It was windy when it was time to set up our tent...

Day One: A Photo Tour of 3 AZ slot canyons on the Navajo Reservation near Page AZ: 

Owl, Rattlesnake and Upper Antelope Canyons in AZ.

Entrance to Owl Canyon, part of the Antelope Canyon Photo Tours.

We are just getting started...

This is Josh, our photo tour guide and Navajo Native American.  Ask me, "Why does Josh have a golf club?"
It is to gently move the snakes over!

The amazing cool scenes are just beginning!

Looking up is just as good as looking ahead.

and look up at this!

It is good to be small and fit under a tripod...

This is one of my favorite shots...yes, taken with my iPhone.

It is a magical place and Josh knew exactly when to be at each location for the perfect sunlight beam.
 Bucket List = check.

Day Two: Our adventure continues north of Page, AZ with a 2-day backpacking tour in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, UT. We explored the Salt Creek and Horse Canyons and had the valley in between to be our playground!

Our campsite.
We put our food on the rock ledge above the tree.  This is black bear country.

  

Looking down at our campsite, by the tree on the lower left corner.

My 25 lb. pack. It was a really good work out, Ray.

See me? I'm the tiny person on the left side of the picture, half way up.

I'm here!

Still here!

Ahh, what a view!

This is for Ray. Planking over a crevice!

Day Three afternoon/Day Four morning: Our adventure continued further north to Moab UT and Arches National Park and my first rock climbing experience! 

Creative Photography with Landscape Arch

My Rock climbing/backpacking Trainer.

Delicate Arch, Utah's most photographed arch

Time to try out all my new climbing gear!

All set!

I made it!

That's me. To my Board and my mom, I was very careful.

I'm still up there.

If. They. Could. See. Me. Now.

Two months of planning and training. 

Seven days of travel, photography, backpacking and rock climbing. 

Working with a budget of $350/person. 

My first Adventurous Journey experience = Priceless.

Supporting our U.S. Military

In the past few years, my family has become a military family. Four years ago, my sister married my brother-in-law, who is in the U.S. Air Force and  2 years ago,my brother joined the U.S. Army. Yesterday, Memorial Day, I reflected upon how lucky I am to personally know men and women who are protecting our freedom. They work tirelessly for the benefit of our nation and I do not think we can show our support enough for the military, their families and the sacrifices they make every day.

It is vitally important to support our military veterans and to thank them for the sacrifices they made for our nation.  An amazing opportunity to to become involve in an Honor Flight. These flights are free to veterans of WWII, Korean and Vietnam Wars and they are flown out to Washington DC to see their respective war memorials. Each veteran is treated to a day of pampering and DC tours as a thank you for their service. It is the Welcome Home Celebration they did not receive when they got home so many years ago but so aptly deserve now. On May 10th, Miss Muscatine's Outstanding Teen, Nina Yu, and I were honored to be part of the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight Orientation in Cedar Rapids. We met many inspiring veterans, their loving families and their volunteer Guardians. We were truly humbled to spend the afternoon with these men and women of our U.S. Military.

Eastern Iowa Honor Flight

While visiting Destin, FL. to attend my cousin's wedding, I had the opportunity to celebrate Armed Forces Day on May 17 by running the Hearts for Military Heroes 5K run in Panama City, FL. You can always find volunteer opportunities.

 Celebrating Armed Forces Day with a charity 5K run.

 So close to getting my PR...

National Women Build Week

       National Women Build Week, May 3-11, 2014


During the weeklong event, sponsored by Habitat for Humanity and Lowes, women devote at least one day to the effort to eliminate poverty housing.

The event is typically held the week leading up to Mother’s Day!

These dates are significant to many volunteers, as families with children make up a staggering number of those in need of adequate housing.

This year’s event will be May 3-11, 2014

“Like” National Women Build Week on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @womenbuild.

Here are my photos of my afternoon as a Woman Who Builds in the Quad Cities!

I am so excited that I joined H4H to help build a home for the Afi Amedanu family!

Afi is a single mom of two children from Africa. She has volunteered over 300 hours

in helping to build her family's home!

The Big Day of Service

The Annual Big Day of Service was Saturday, our only sunny day all week!  And it was perfect!  As a Sight Coach, I arrived early to the Dubuque Town Clock Plaza to get my assignment and meet my team...a young youth group and their leaders from Des Moines.  These ambitious, excited Junior High and HS freshmen made my day!  What great energy!

Our assignment: take a new sprinkler system, piece by piece, up a steep yard to assemble for a sweet older lady in Dubuque. We finished our job early and took a break in a nearby city park then headed to the Dubuque River Walk to pick up garbage to finish our Day of Serving.

What is the Big Day of Serving?  It is a series of one-day events across the nation where neighborhoods are transformed by a swarm of Christian kids who are eager to help people in need. At the Big Day of Serving, youth groups transformed Tri-State neighborhoods in a single day... 
    *They cleaned city blocks, alleyways and parks
    *Helped with landscaping and planted community gardens
    *Removed graffiti
    *Painted and tackled minor home repairs

The Big Day is not just a day of service; it's a national movement. The goal: one million kids all over our country worked together for the same cause.  Imaging how city after city and block after block, these changes multiplied and changed not only local neighborhoods...but entire cities all across America!

Want to be part of this great cause next year? Watch for The Big Day of Service 2015 next May!

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Big Day of Serving Sight Coach ready to meet my group!

My Sight Coach t-shirt was a little big . . .

I'd like you to meet Rev. Ron Schardt. He is one of my mentors

and best example of how to live to serve others. We have served

together many times: built a shed for Habitat for Humanity in Parkersburg IA 

                                      and cleaned up the Joplin MO tornado to name a few.  

Introducing my energetic work group from Des Moines!