The summer before my senior year, I had the opportunity to travel to Colorado and participate in an Outward Bound program, as a member of the Capital Region Interdistrict Leadership Academy. When I applied for this program, I did not realize the impact one week, but more importantly, one night, could make on the person I am today.

On the Tuesday morning of my trip, nine other students, our instructors, and I set out to reach the 13,088-foot summit of Mount Virginia. As I hiked multiple miles with a 50-pound backpack strapped to me, I felt as though I would not make it to the top of the mountain the next day. We all woke up early Wednesday morning to start our trek to the summit. After four hours of climbing, we finally reached the top of Mount Virginia. A feeling of pride overtook me as I realized what I had just done.

However, this was not what changed me. When we got back to our campsite for the night, I made the realization that this was the night I had to spend alone in the woods. The idea of being completely on my own, in the middle of nowhere was immensely terrifying. As the instructors prepared us for our “solo mission” my heart began to beat faster and faster. How could I, a girl from Connecticut, survive a night on my own, with no music, book, or companion to comfort me in the frigid air? My turn to be brought to my campsite quickly approached. As my instructor guided me to my site, I felt as if time was moving in slow motion.

The next thing I knew, I was alone. As I began to pitch my tent, I realized that this was, in fact, just as difficult as I thought it would be. What seemed like hours later, I finally had a tent set up and I was ready to go to sleep. The only problem was, it was still broad daylight outside. “What am I supposed to do now?” I wondered. So, I pulled out the journal the instructors gave to us and began to write. Never before had I truly sat down alone and reflected on myself, the kind of person I am, and the person I want to be. I began to understand the importance of taking time out of our daily lives to appreciate all of the things around us. As I wrote, I realized something about myself that I would never have discovered if it weren’t for Outward Bound.

The question “What have you become?” was posed to us before we left on our solo mission. The exact words I wrote down that night are, “I have become appreciative, independent, self-aware, inspired, driven (to most people this is only to their own limits, but to me it is driven to go beyond what I originally perceived as my best), someone eager to inspire others, and above all STRONG.”

Before I went to Colorado, I did not see myself as these things. I did not even know that I desired to be all of those things until that night. Now, I am so dedicated to being that appreciative, independent, strong person, I do not know how I wasn’t before. Not a day goes by where I do not think about what I can do to be better, to do better for someone else, or to prove to others, and myself, that I am capable. I always thought that I was not good enough, that I did not deserve everything that I had achieved. That night in Colorado, I realized it was okay to be proud, to feel accomplished, and to be successful, and nobody could take that away from me.