Writing Sample #1
I did a 3 night 4 day Sea, Science and Leadership camp at Mass Maritime Academy in early August 2007. This was easily one of the best weeks of summer ’07. The reason why I did this camp is because it would give me a bonus into getting into this college. Another plus, was that I have a friend from Quincy that was attending this camp so I would have someone to hang out with for the week.
My first activity was all about fire fighting. I learned how to assemble a fire house first. We got them assembled and then got the opportunity to shoot them off. Next, we got to use a fire extinguisher. The firefighter lit a controlled propane fire and we had to it all out ourselves. Next, we did an obstacle course in this trailer which was pitch black and we had to navigate through it. We got to put on actual oxygen tanks and masks to see what it was like breathing with that equipment on. Later that day, I learned all about using GPS device’s to find waypoints all over the campus.
The next day we headed over to a leadership reaction course at the Otis Military Base. This course is used by police academy trainees, and also marines. We broke up into 5 or 6 different groups and each team went to a different obstacle. There were certain tasks that were needed to complete the problem. Each one was similar to the fact that the ground in the course was water, so, if you fell in, you got wet! There were different poles, ladders, ropes and blocks that were thoughtfully placed in the water to make it extremely difficult to get over. It was a challenging yet rewarding experience being able to participate in that.
The next part was called “Cold Water Survival.” The instructors gave us the red body suits known as “Gumby Suits” to put on over our shorts. When I jumped in the freezing cold ocean water, the suit formed to my body keeping me warm and dry. According to one instructor, each suit costs around 1000 dollars. That was a very memorable experience.
The highlight of my week had to have been the game of Ultimate Frisbee I took part in on a huge open field. Most of the campers ended up migrating over to the playing field to watch the game. It was 6 on 6, back and forth, evenly matched game. People were diving, falling, slipping and sliding all around the field the whole time with a smile on their face. It felt really cool knowing that lots of eyes were on me while I was making a good or even a bad play too!
After a week of fun filled classes and activities, I know for sure Massachusetts Maritime Academy was the perfect college for me.