Hello, my name is Matt Beukema. I'm a junior at Calvin College studying history, and I am spending my summer at Snow Mountain Ranch with the Calvin Leadership Challenge Institute. The program is already halfway over, which makes me slightly sad. So far, the program has been a pleasure and privilege to be a part of. I am grateful for this opportunity to spend a summer with great people making great memories.
This past week, our speaker for the program was Glenn Triezenberg, the director of Calvin's Career Development Office. As per usual, the students in the program got to have a one-on-one conversation with the speaker, and as per usual, I took advantage of this opportunity. During the conversation, Glenn pointed me in a couple of directions that I should consider with school and careers. I truly appreciated this, because for the past couple of years, I have been without much of a direction in life, going through school but not knowing where to go with it. But I now have hope that I'll find a direction eventually, and that the uncertainty is quite fine. I now can appreciate the words of J.R.R. Tolkien: "All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost." For now, this will be my motto, and I think I can live with that.
In my employment for the YMCA, I work in the bike shop. The Y has a fleet of mountain bikes that we rent out to guests, and I help with that, as well as maintaining the bikes themselves. Along with that, I work on the trails of Snow Mountain Ranch. Just this afternoon, one of my coworkers and I were out cutting a new trail. The process of making a new trail involves chainsaws, rakes, and a weed-whacker on steroids. All-in-all, a good time and a lot of hard work that ends with a beautiful trail through the woods.
And with that, I think I shall conclude with a few of my favorite pictures that I've taken so far this summer:
 |
| Me, my trusty Osprey pack, and the completely necessary addition of the Moosejaw flag. |
 |
| Looking at mountains off in the distance over Monarch Lake. |
 |
| Just before a sunrise, camping out on Nine Mile Mountain. |
 |
| I couldn't pass up a few pictures of wildflowers. |
 |
| From my favorite hammocking location: Columbine Point. |
-Matt Beukema
No comments:
Post a Comment