Teen Ranch

                        If Teen Ranch was a school, I bet all the students there would never want to leave. At Teen Ranch, they teach all the children about Christian living and following the footsteps of God. They also give us the opportunity to show our leadership and co-operation with our peers to become more responsible. Waking up at Teen Ranch is like starting a new year expecting to learn something new without the help of our fellow friends, the Internet. Even though this is very unlikely to happen, if I got a chance to stay longer at Teen Ranch, I would definitely take that chance.

    When your horseback ride, it didn't really matter if your horse was nice to you, as long as you can control and keep up with the line, you will enjoy the ride. When Agatha member of Teen Ranch, was teaching us about riding your horse, she taught us the basic routine on how to control your horse. She showed us how to move forward, turning left or right, and to stop. As we rode our horses like follow the leader, we got to enjoy the view of Teen Ranch from the mountains. Higher we went, the more we saw. After the ride was over, I got a chance to learn more about my horse Stiles, is related to his grandfather Secretariat. What I learned myself about Stiles is that he likes to lead him and go his own way. He doesn't really follow the other horses in the line. Stiles would move beside the line and go his own way. He is also very un-friendly to most of the horses, especially Daisy and Elvis. If Stiles hears them behind him, he would turn around so fast and get ready to charge at them. Stiles also don't like horses that go too slow. He would bite the horses butt so they would go faster. Although that my horse is easy to get mad, he was very kind to me as his rider and gave me a horse-back ride I would never forget.

    Sharing a cabin with people you don't know so much seems like a scary idea to do. But it helps your social skills to meet new people. When I bunked with some of my new friends, I didn't expect to leave Teen Ranch knowing more things about them. In cabin 4, I was in a group of 5, including myself, and 4 amazing people I learned new things about. Everyday, even if it wasn't in the cabin, I get to talk to these girls and be good friends with them. They are Ashley C., Ashley J., Danielle, and Christine. When you share a cabin with this amount of people as the days pass, our cabin became our home, sort of. All of our stuff would sometimes be found on the floor, in the washroom, on the bed racks, on each of our bed-bunks, and even of someone else's bed. It's a good thing my cabin buddies are organized so our cabin wasn't messy as it sounds. When it's time for clean up in the cabins, we would take a short amount of time, but we still did a good job. So when it's time to sleep, our cabin is ready for the next day. The first two nights were okay, but a few of us didn't get a lot of sleep. Some of us stayed up until 11:00pm and were knocking on the other cabin's walls. Some of us would wake up and take an hour to get back to sleep. On the last two nights were the best for me because it was easy for me to sleep because I got to use to sleeping on a bunk bed. All in all, bunking with friends is cool, but bunking with friends on a school trip for the whole week is completely better, no lie.

    The last night was fantastic even though the next day we would have to leave Teen Ranch, we did Predator Prey, which was exciting; our last dinner was so delicious, a movie, and a bonfire. Before we went to the bonfire, most of us were near the pond getting ready to leave their flashlights. We had to walk all the way from the entrance tot the dining hall, all the way inside to the middle of the forest. A few guys didn't know where they were going and hit a car, and all of a sudden you hear a car alarm go off. As we headed near the horse's barn, a few of us gave each other piggyback rides. I gave one to Sorena, and got one from Joshua P. and Tyler. When Tyler gave me a piggyback, we both fell and both of us got cuts. When we reached the forest, a few others and myself were walking in a group with flashlights so we wouldn't step on any horse poop. When we reached the Bonfire, the fire already started. Mr.Stamcoff and Mr.Samler were ready to give us hotdogs and marshmallows to cook ourselves. Sorena and I cooked marshmallows and they all got burned. After a few of us ate, we would sit together in groups and would just hangout and chill. For that hour at the Bonfire, I was mostly with Sorena, Marc, Tyler, Joshua P., and Katrina. When all of us were together, a few of us realized that we were surrounded by nature. We were under the stars, surrounded by trees, and close with friends in the dark. Only the fire and stars lit up the darkness, with a sense of warmth. I even forgot about Facebook.

    It has been several amounts of days after the week of Teen Ranch, and I can still remember the sound of the bell calling us to the Dining Hall. I can remember the birds chirping in the morning as you open the cabin door to see the beautiful sunrise from the tips of the trees, you would see from afar. Many of the students, including myself, still remember the fun times we have had. There were so many memories I can still remember and enjoyed there. Like, the great meals we would get everyday, and every time, we would enjoy the taste and smell as we eat with our friends. I had the great experience of getting to know more people better, and I am very grateful for that. I hope to see the view of Teen Ranch from the steep hills when we rode the horses there. It was so amazing to have more memorial memories I would treasure in my mind and remember them later on in my life. All in all, I am thankful to have the experience that is so priceless to learn more about God and gaining more special memories I will treasure forever.

                                   

Teen Ranch Essay

My Teen Ranch Experience

"I need somewhere to escape, escape from reality.” This quote had been going through my head the whole Teen Ranch experience. Before I left for Teen Ranch, I was thinking, “Oh boy, this is a perfect opportunity to find myself!” When I say this, I mean sometimes I tend to feel really lost. Life can be pretty hectic with homework, chores, extra classes, busy schedules and even social life has been going down the road for people I know. By going to Teen Ranch, we would have to opportunity to learn to become more independent, try new experiences, be away from parents, home, media, and create recreate new bond between friends with memories that could last a lifetime. Bunking with new and old friends, sharing laughs by the pond, and trying new activities such as skating, allowed us to see hidden sides of people I haven’t seen before, along with realizing how much fun new experiences can turn out to be. Absolutely everything at Teen Ranch was beyond fun. The cabins were much better than I thought they would be and my cabin buddies made the experience far much exciting. There were some pretty hilarious moments we had in our cabin. Skating was definitely a brand new experience and I guess sometimes we have to fall to learn to pick ourselves back up, or we can save the trip down when you’ve got a friend to catch you. I’ve also never expected a few small talks and laughter could really brighten up your entire day, and make the pain go away.



When we first got off the bus at Teen Ranch everyone's faces just lit up! There were people jumping up and down, all ecstatic and super anxious for the week ahead. Cabins were what most students had been really impatient about, and let me tell you I was super curious. Now you see, some girls' cabins had a flight of stairs along with them, and with my loaded suitcase it was pretty tricky hauling that elephant up those stairs. Because the wheels kept getting jammed each time I took a step, it was almost as if the wheels were super glued to the wood! I have to admit that they looked pretty awesome along with our red and black cabins. Once we were past the stairs, my cabin buddies and I all made a left to cabin number four. When one of my friends opened the door, an awkward stench happened to fly up my nose. Bleh! I wasn't too pleased with the smell, but very shortly I got so used to it, I can still smell it this moment. It actually wasn't that bad, considering the cabins were pretty old. The second we got in the room, everyone was yelling out "THIS IS MY BUNK! -CALLED IT!!!" I was left with two options. - The bunk right next to the bathroom, or the one right next to the door. I stuck with the one next to the bathroom. I sort of get paranoid whenever I sleep next to a clear view outside the windows, or next to a door- one that ESPECIALLY isn't locked. The positive part is that there was a bunk for each of us, so there was no need to share. It was funny because shortly before we came to Teen Ranch, my friends and I were already debating who would get which half of the bunk. I had small expectations of the cabins, so when I finally got to see it I was pretty impressed. The bathroom was better than I expected too. The only thing that bothered me but I didn't mind too much, was the musky smell and the dripping shower tap. When it came down to the bathroom schedule, there surely was a bunch of chatter and debating...but yet again, this was all about compromising with other people. All together we would decide who would take their showers in the morning, and who would take theirs in the night. We would pick an agreeable amount of time we got to spend in the bathroom, but sometimes other people would go over by a few minutes, so unfortunately that time would be deducted from the next person's shower. We were very organized, and while someone would be occupying the bathroom, the rest of us would be listening to the radio while chatting and getting all our belongings and ourselves organized. The funny part was on the first night we took a shower, the two first people weren't able to turn on the cold water. The knob kept getting stuck, so those two had to take a shower in burning water...or at least try to. We occasionally heard yelping from the bathroom at random moments. Luckily when it was my turn, I found a way to finally get the knob loose and cold water running so I could even it out with the hot water. The rest of us were able to take showers in relaxing warm water. YAY! Eventually the bathroom floor became extremely wet so we all had to be very cautious when using the washroom. We all brushed our teeth at around the same time, and once that was over with, we'd either head outside at around 7:30 in the mornings, or head to bed for a night of rest. Usually we'd be in bed by 10:30 PM. The nights came and went so quickly. On the first night it was hard to fall asleep because we were just so excited we were finally here, and everyone kept chatting. We also weren't used to sleeping with four other people in cabins, away from home, and with paper-thin mattresses. The mattresses were alright...but not as comfy as my double bed at home with all the pillows I could sleep with! Oh well, one would have to do. I fell asleep quicker than I expected while my other roommates fell asleep at around 2:00 AM. I occasionally woke up at random times in the middle of the night, but that was fine. I hate restless nights because that next day fatigue just slaps you in the face. We all agreed to wake up at 6:30 everyday, and that's what my alarm what set to. Some of us were early birds, while the others were plain sleepy heads. I'm talking about the two right next to the alarm! Yes. The alarm was right next to their ears, but they were such heavy sleepers that I still had to get up myself, stumble my way across the room in the dark, and search for the off button. Well that wasn't such a big deal for since that's my same exact routine when I wake up for school. I guess they just weren't used to the alarm the way I am. That sounds annoys me so much, that at 6:30 AM when it goes off, my dreams and my unconscious mind suddenly snaps and I just need to turn that thing off. I'd have to say the memory of the first night at Teen Ranch, was more vivid compared to the other nights.



Skating was unbelievably amazing! It was so fun and I looked forward to it every time. Monday was the very first time I had ever gone skating, and I was so anxious to get on the ice. When it came to tying our skates, I knew how to tie them but I found it really generous of the people who offered to help me. When some students were struggling to put on their skates, there was ALWAYS somebody to lend a hand. I got up and tried to walk. I walked pretty naturally but how much more balance would I need on the actual ice? I then put on my helmet, which looked, pretty goofy, but better safe than sorry. When I first stepped onto the rink I thought I'd be falling and stumbling all over the place, but it turned out that I did quite better than I thought I would. Of course I still fell a few times, was unsteady, and whenever I'd look back or got distracted, I was guaranteed to lose balance. I stayed near the side of the rink with my hand brushing across the sideboard for some support. Some people were kind enough to give me a hand when I fell, and when others would stumbled and fell too, they wouldn't be left on the ice, but be helped get back up by a friend. There were my friends Ashley J, and Marc to encourage me and give me help on the first day. By simply holding my hands for balance, and giving me tips, they were able to make me a much better skater. They had to skate backwards in order for them to help me. I knew they both probably got frustrated when I'd say, " I can't" or anything negative, but now I thank both of them for helping me so much on my first day. Watching people be so kind to others just made me really happy. What really surprised me was the way other people skated. As I looked around the rink, I noticed that even the boys, who knew how to skate, actually looked quite...graceful. I'm serious when I say this. I know it sounds a bit feminine but it's true! They were gliding so effortlessly and they were so smooth when they skated, on their turns and crossovers, skating backward, and all those other things I couldn't do. Yet again, they do have experience. Not a bitter face was shown on the ice, even when people fell. They just laughed it off and were willing to get back up and try again. It was very entertaining to watch everyone skate and I'm sure they all had a blast!



What I found that was really relaxing was free time at Teen Ranch. The place I mostly hung out by was near the pond. The more people there, the better. It allowed talking and laughing without anything bothering us. If you had a really patient friend that would be willing to listen, you could vent to them about any problems. We would be sitting on the bench thinking or be dragging some sticks through the water watching the ripples expand. Some people were lucky enough to spy a few fish, tadpoles, and frogs. I found this place really peaceful, and I unfailingly went down there everyday. Even in the mornings at around 7:30 it would be the same place I’d head down to and meet up with my friends. The scenery was gorgeous along with the waterfall, and the many plants. I'd love looking at the pond in the morning because everything would be so frosty and peaceful, but then come alive when the sun shone in the afternoon. When the water would be still, it would be like looking at a mirror. The reflection of the sky in the water was crystal clear, until something would hit the surface. I’ve talked to a few friends about how they actually felt during free time and I remember Tiffany H. mentioning that even by wading sticks in the water could make you feel like the mellowest person. I also remember Ashley C. going on about how there was just way too much going on back home, and this was a great way to relieve that. Coming here to Teen Ranch was a great way to experience life away from the media and all the things we sort of depend on. You make a closer connection to nature. You don’t realize it, but sometimes you get so dependant on computers, televisions, and iPods for information that you kind of get attached to them without knowing. Everything done here was totally productive! I really enjoyed also feeding the horses. There was a mother horse named Ivy and her baby horse named Zoë. They were really cute and their hair was soft, but whenever they’d eat apples, it would be so gross! The apples were so juicy! They’d drool a slimy pale liquid, and whenever you’d try to feed it another one, there was no doubt that your hands would get slobbered all up. Whenever my friend and I would go by the fences to see the horses, they’d always be grazing on some hay. It’s crazy how much hay these horses eat in a day. They would even mistake a pair of brown mittens for food, and begin to nibble on them. Observing others feed the horses grass was quite interesting. When people would stick their hands out holding a bundle of grass, I wondered how the horses would eat, due to their large heads and jumbo mouths. When they’d eat, they sort of lick the grass and pull it into their mouths using their tongues. I also noticed that some people were a bit hesitant at first to feed them, and would jerk their hand away when the horses cam near. After a while they really weren’t nervous at all and they were feeding them so naturally. One time I looked over to Zoë and she was running like crazy!! The horses were a nice way of spending free time at Teen Ranch and I can tell Zoë is going to be really fast when she grows up. Aside from the pond and feeding the horses, I spent a generous amount of time on the trampoline. I can be a really hyper person at time so he trampolines were great for me! I didn't remember the last time that I've been on one, and when I started jumping on the trampoline I just felt so energetic! It was really fun bouncing up and down, and I remember the first time I jumped on that trampoline, I experienced that feeling when you go down a roller coaster. As I was jumping Ashley J. yelled out, "Do a flip!" At that moment I was thinking..."Oh, no...I'm not trying a flip!" I remembered that a few years ago I was on this big trampoline with a cord attached to my waist for safety. I attempted a flip and, well...failed. When I finally decided to do a flip on that trampoline with Ashley's encouragement, it felt really good. It felt even better knowing that I did it without a cord or anyone helping me. I jumped high and just went for it. I did the flip, didn't land it, but it was really fun! It was even exciting watching others so a bunch of flips and tricks on the trampoline. Now I wish that I had a really big trampoline in my backyard!



Teen Ranch was THE most exciting, educational, friendly, school experience EVER. It had taught me so many things. By agreeing to come on this trip, all of us had to be willing to step out of our comfort zone in one way or another, to learn something new. By being with a few other people sharing one cabin, we all had to find a way to compromise with each other. It was all a matter of getting to know people better and being patient with each other. New bonds between friends were created, and most of all we had an amazing time. With skating I learnt that you aren't going to be naturally good at everything to take a leap at, but it's always worth the risk. People's kindness and consideration just shined specifically in this area. When you'd fall or stumble they would be there to catch you. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and by falling and tripping was a way to gain strength. You'd get back up with will power and enthusiasm wanting to skate some more! Last but not least having fun. Free time was a great way to become more connected to nature without all the electronics and technology we depend on. Everything we've done was productive. By sitting by the pond and having laughs and chatter, we were able to get to know each other better. We were able to vent about anything that bothered us and just let it all out. That feeling of relief is just amazing, and I think that was the feeling I had all week. Teen Ranch, is an unforgettable experience and truly I say just warmed my heart.





By Christine

Teen Ranch Essay

Dispersal Week

            About one out of ten grade seven students would not go to Teen Ranch according to the teachers and students in my school. I am one of those people that did not go. While the grade sevens went to Teen Ranch; a few other grade sevens and I did not go or could not go to Teen Ranch because of various reasons. Over my dispersal week I had lots of fun and interesting experiences.

            It just so happened that I was dispersed into my old class that I had last year. My old teacher Mr. Stamcoff had not changed one bit from last year except for the fact he had more grey hairs than before. He also decided that it was totally alright to teach the new class more than my old class. I have to say though; the artwork this year was not as good as when we did it and their poetry was not rhythmical as ours. But you cannot blame them because we were very artistic and poetic ourselves! Even though a lot of things stayed the same as last year a lot of things also changed quite a bit from last year. Two examples of huge changes are the desk positions and the back of the room. I remember there were only about three or four groups of people with five to seven people in each group. Now there are six groups but with as low as four people. In the back of the room there is nearly nothing compared to last year. There are fewer dictionaries, fewer thesauruses, fewer bibles and way fewer extra textbooks. Also, what I think is very different is that last year our French teacher made us learn the Notre Pere (Our Father) prayer which you learn in grade seven but by we were in a split grade we had to learn it. The same French teacher this year instead let the keep saying the Hail Mary. But I actually should be thanking her because it helped me for this grade.

            During our dispersal week specifically on Tuesday it was announced by my old teacher that I was going to be dispersed to another class. I thought to myself and realized that I was getting double dispersed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately during the time period of Wednesday and Thursday I got a terrible fever and could not attend school those two days. The wait between Wednesday and Thursday was an eternity alone inside my mom's room with only water, dry crackers and T.V. I know what you are thinking, T.V. that was not a bad day but only baby shows come on at that time. I got back to school on Friday and when I got to my double dispersal class I realized I had my old grade two teacher again. Something really funny happened that day too. When I got back to school my friend was literally steamed because while I was gone he had nothing to do by there were only three grade sevens not going. What really made me laugh about it was that he did not even acknowledge the fact that I was sick those two days so he rambled on and on. Plus the look on his face made the moment just priceless at the time. Even when that happened it still was one of the most boring days at school but the two other people and I figured out something to do. During recess me and my classmates had no choice but to play with the grade eights who were really tall. We amazingly survived a couple rounds working together. Inside our class we would just help out our teacher with extra stuff.

            Based on the fact that I could only attend to three of the dispersal days he really tried to keep us busy. When I got back on Friday it was practically a whole book of homework. Most of it was math which was reasonable because I remember from last year he said when your noisy you have nothing to do and he would photocopy and then hand out extra math pages for the whole class. The ratio of math pages to language pages was probably about 4:1. Not to say that we did not get a fair amount of language but we got a ton of math in comparison. The work was kind of fun though because there were brainteasers and puzzles that you needed to do trial and error. To make Friday even busier our double dispersal teacher had extra work to do afterward. First of all she gave us five scholastic books each containing thirty magazines. She wanted us to rip twenty from each for her class then staple them in groups of two and others in three. After that she wanted us to help people in her class read by she was a grade two teacher. It was a big challenge to get them to read and listen and it was kind of surprising that they did not know how to read. Clearly I was not busy enough because I still got bored at the end of the day even though it is much easier doing work in a dispersal class which is why I do not have much homework.

            Overall I would say I did have lots of fun and interesting times during my dispersal week. I met back my old teachers from last year and grade two. It is fun when they ask you questions about this year and relate it to last year and it just makes me feel me nostalgic. Although I regret not going to Teen Ranch I am sure there will be many other opportunities to go on trips and spend time with my friends.

By: Sean D

Teen Ranch

Teen Ranch

In 1966 the construction of Teen Ranch begun. 43 years later Teen Ranch is still teaching 12 year old girls and boys about community living and how to get along with each other. Being away from our friends and families for five days caused us to be independent and responsible. We did many activities, and most of them taught us something such as the map orienteering which made us work together. All of the activities at Teen Ranch were fun, some I like, but there were only a few of them that I loved.


Over the course of our five day Teen Ranch adventure we went skating four times at the hockey arena. The first time we went skating everyone was getting used to the ice. Most people clung to the walls, but the children that knew how to skate were already doing tricks and having races. After ten minutes if some kids were still having trouble skating, some of the children and adults that could skate started to help. It took me about five minutes to get use to the ice. Following those five minutes I began to skate faster, the problem with me skating faster is I don’t know how to stop. Since I did not know how to stop I would bump into people, then we would both fall down. By the end of that first skating period my knees were full of bruises. A half of a hour after the second ice started on Tuesday Abigail was helping me twirl. At first she made me do it in one spot, but that did not work out. After five minutes of this I decided to quit. When I started to skate away she called me back so I tried to turn and I did it, I twirled, and then I fell down. For the rest of the skating period I was practicing my twirls. On Thursday and Friday Agatha said we could play hockey. As soon as we started playing I thought ‘What did I get myself into?’ After playing for a few minutes I realized two things, one it was very fun and two, I still could not stop. At the end of the hockey I had a lot of fun, more bruises, and I scored a goal. The next time I get the opportunity to go skating I won’t hesitate before I say yes.

I’ve always wanted to go horseback riding and at Teen Ranch I finally got the chance. On Tuesday morning right after breakfast, we were the first group to go riding. For the first ride Agatha spent 30 minutes explaining to s how to control our horse. To get the horse to move you would lightly kick the horse and click. If you wanted the horse to stop you would pull on the reigns and say whoa. After Agatha finished explaining everything we all thought ‘This is going to be easy,’ boy were we wrong. When I got on my horse I looked down and said, ‘This horse is too tall.’ After everyone got on their horse that is when the song started. All you could hear was ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ because the horses were bunching up together and backing up into each other. My horse, Rascal, would shift its weight from one side to the other while standing still. In doing so it felt like he was about to fall over. Rascal was very big; he was brown with a small white patch between his eyes. Nikki, the horse instructor, took us through the forest to see our controlling skills. At the end of our ride Nikki took us into the field. At the field Nikki told us to be careful because the horses may try to eat. While we were in the field Nikki said we could trot. Trotting was so fun, but before we started I thought it was going to be scary, but it was not. The second time we went riding, on Wednesday Nikki took us into the hills. Going up the hill was terrifying, I was so nervous it felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest. I was scared there was a lot of rocks and mud, and I did not want my horse to slip. Half way through our adventure we had to stop because one person was falling behind. We were stopped for about 30 seconds, all of a sudden my horse jerks away from the horse in front of us, and almost ran into the trees. I started to freak out, then I realized my horse moved because the horse in front of us started going to the bathroom. Going down the hill was even scarier than going up, especially since my horse slipped. The only think that was really unfortunate was we did not get to trot again. I hope I get to go horseback riding again no matter how scary it was.

Everything at Teen Ranch was fun, but some of the best events took place in the forest around the area. One of the events was wilderness survival, which took place just inside the forest. Before we went outside to ‘survive’ Mr. Mash spoke to us inside the dining room about the ‘The Rule Three’. The Rule Three is that everything an emergency, whether time or communication has three. It takes a human to die of hypothermia in three hours, of dehydration in three days, and of starvation in three weeks. When in an emergency to get attention you cold whistle three times, make three fires, or righting S.O.S. in the soil, if you are lost. If you are at home you dial three numbers, 911. When Mr. Mash was finished explaining everything we finally went outside. Outside we split into three groups. There was a group of all boys, which Mr. Mash called the hobo group because there were no girls. There was also an n all girls group and then there was the group I was in which was a mix. We moved our shelter twice because we could not all agree. First we had it on a big rock by two trees, but the heavy branches were too hard to lift, so we moved it to beside the rock. We moved it again between two trees because the old spot was too cluttered. When we started to build the shelter it was a little hard, placing the branches correctly so they would not slide down. We actually had a problem with this, when we were almost done one person in our group put a branch on an open spot. The branch slipped and the whole shelter fell down! In five minutes it was back up, the only thing we needed to do was put pine needles to cover the holes. After we showed Mr. Mash we could all fit inside we started making the fire. First we found some rocks and put them in a circle, forming the fire pit. Next we gathered wood. When we finished this Mr. Mash gave us a match. We tried rubbing the match against a rock for friction, but we broke the match. Mr. Mash gave us another match, but this time he tried to start the fire. The fire was so warm I did not even need my coat. While we were enjoying our fire we noticed the girls were having trouble starting their fire. Mr. Mash had given them three matches already. We noticed they gave up when they came to our fire and Mr. Mash said, ‘If you can’t make a fire, make a shelter near people who can.’ After sitting there for 15 minutes the fire still did not burn out so we poured water on it. Just like that our survival experience was over. If I was ever lost in the wilderness I could survive the night thanks to these new skills.



My stay at Teen Ranch was the best five days of my 12 year old life. At Teen Ranch I was able to try new things such as horseback riding and hockey. I also learned new things like survival skills during wilderness survival. I even tried some new foods, for example the raspberry and peach cobbler and iced tea. I would do anything to go back to Teen Ranch, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do to go back, the only thing I have left are my memories of that special place. Teen Ranch is a place that I will never forget.



Christina P

Teen Ranch

            Canada's Wonderland, Marine Land, African Lion Safari; all fun places, but then there's Teen Ranch!  Have you ever been to Teen Ranch? If you haven't well then you haven't TASTED fun yet. If you have, than you know that there's a limit to fun but at Teen Ranch "the sky's the limit!" The amount of fun you'd have is endless. If you're wondering what the big fuss is about Teen Ranch is well… your about to find out. Teen Ranch was…words can't describe it; it was amazing, I'm pretty sure that 100% of the students there had fun. Orangeville hides a secret deep inside, 'Teen Ranch,' Teen Ranch consist of amazing food, outdoor activities, activities during free time and much more. I'd have to say that Teen Ranch was the highlight of the year so far, Teen Ranch "is yours to discover!"

          The food at Teen Ranch was amazing! In fact I don't think it should even be called just 'Food," it was gourmet, they prepared it so simple yet so elegant! It was like being in a fancy restaurant everyday. On the first day at Teen Ranch we arrived at approximately 10:41 a.m. soon after they served us lunch we had spaghetti and meatballs for dessert we had cinnamon cookies and for dinner we had teriyaki chicken with vegetables. Through put the week we had a variety if things like: lasagna, salad, pizza, sausages, fajitas, fries, rice chicken. For breakfasts we had things like cereal, Mc muffins, muffins, bacon, eggs, yogurt and pancakes. For desserts we had things like pudding, ice cream, brownies, cupcakes, cookies and puff pastries. For drinks we had things like: iced tea, orange juice, milk, cherry drinks, water etc. At nights while we were watching movies and doing Karaoke we ate things like: cookies, rice krispies, fruits, sweets, for drinks we had hot chocolate and juice. One night we had a bonfire it was amazing, we got to roast marshmallows and hotdogs. During all these meals we had to sit with different people each time. While doing this we got to know a lot about other people, we got to know people's likes, dislikes, their life stories and much more. I managed to sit with 2 different people at each meal, which was my goal from the begging. I think my favourite meal was when we were at the bonfire. At the bonfire there wasn't a limited amount of seats, there were about 4 gigantic benches, so that no one had to rush to the table they wanted. I sat in various places every few minutes. After awhile we started to roast the hotdogs, the sparks lingered and wandered into the dark sky and looked like stars, and then suddenly they disappeared like magic. After we began to roast marshmallow, I stuck my marshmallow in the fire where it then caught on fire, I thought I was doing something wrong, and then I was told that's how it was supposed to be done. I looked at the sky and the darkness of the sky carried me off to a hazy sleep.

          The activities we did all had to do with bonding with nature and using common sense. One activity we did was "wilderness survival." We had to go into the forest and make a shelter and fire. Our group included me, Tiffany H, Ashlen, and Kyra. We went to the forest and we began to collect big logs, sticks, and leaves. We had no idea where we were going to put our shelter but then our v.p helped us, we started to put some sticks, logs, and leaves on our shelter we continued for about 30 minutes. In the end we had the best shelter in our group. (group1) It had a sling shot, a slide, it camouflaged with the environment and when you entered it there were a lot of curved rocks and smooth rock so it looked like there was a table and chairs. We still weren't done we had to make our fire, we were very successful in our shelter but when it comes to making a fire we suck, we struck out  4 times and we still didn't get it but our v.p said it was okay. He also said that even though we didn't make the fire we still get an A+ in our shelter!  After everyone took a picture in front of our shelter. As we walked out of the forest we saw some beautiful horses in the stable. After we had lunch it was our turn to ride horses. (There were 3 groups and 3 activities so we rotated to the different activities) One of the advisors there (Agatha) explained what to do and what not to do on or near the horse so we would have a successful ride. We made our way down to the stable and we picked our horses my horse was named Tia she had beautiful ivory white skin, it was as white as snow. Soon after we began to ride we rode through the forest, up and down the hills and we trotted a bit. We got to ride twice that was the first time the second time we took a different route up and down hills at one point we had to go down a very narrow hill, my horse tripped over a rock and almost fell but she was still okay. Tia was so well trained she listened to every command I said. In all we had to complete 3 activities we only completed 2 out of the 3 so we had to complete 1 more. Our last activity was map orienteering. In map orienteering we had most of the ranch, our advisor selected10-16 # that we had to find in the ranch. When we found what we had to find it showed a letter or a horse breed, the letters when all found, had to be unscrambled and in the end spelled "celebrate." When we weren't doing serious activities we were doing fun things like skating. Skating was unbelievably fun we did it almost every day. The very first time I skated was in grade 1, I was the best one there, I was skating right next to the coach but before I knew it I was about to crash into the coach, and I fell and got my lip stuck to the ice. When I got back on t the ice I was a little rusty (or a lot) but it felt amazing to be on the ice again. On the first day skating at Teen Ranch I was really scared and I fell 3 times, but as the week went on I got better and I didn't fall at all.  On Thursday we played hockey I was completely TERRIBLE!  It was still loads of fun words can't even explain how exhilarating it felt. Another thing we did was souvenir making, on the second floor of the arena, it was originally a gym transformed into an art studio. We each got a circular piece of wood that we had to sandpaper & draw symbols of Teen Ranch on it. Once we were done we had to

Podge it so that it would last, then we waited for it to dry then we could take it home with us. Another activity we did was going on a hike on the first day at Teen Ranch, to get to know the area. We travelled through most of the ranch; we went to a place called Adventure Island, the stable, up and down hills, the barn, the forest, the cabin areas, the pond, some houses, waterslides and much more. On our last night at Teen Ranch we had a very tiring afternoon, we played predator and prey. The team I was on was the fox group. The objective of the game was to tag animals smaller than us like meadow mice, chipmunks, squirrels etc. The same thing applied for animals bigger than us. We played the game for about an hour, I hid in our shelter we made in the wilderness survival skills for about 10 minutes and absolutely no one found me. Then I got bored so I left, but since no one found me it showed that if we got lost or if we were actually were animals our shelter would've worked. We continued the game and in the end I got 15 points. After a tiring day like that it wouldn't be hard to fall asleep, the game acted like a Tylenol, I fell asleep instantly!!!

          When we weren't doing outdoor activities that had to be completed or stuffing our faces with food we had free time. We had a wide variety of thing we could do. Some of the outdoor activities we could do were volleyball, basketball, and trampoline, sit by the pond, pet the horses go to your cabin etc. The first thing I did when I got free time was volleyball. We gad about an hour to do what we wanted me and my friends would go down to the pit and play 5 on 5. We would play for about half an hour until a team got to 25, but we wouldn't get very far, when we played for about a minute, we would be serious then all of a sudden we would be on the sand laughing our eyes out, so we just played for fun. When we were done playing we would go to the trampolines, there were 3 trampolines and were like 2eyes and a nose, but the only way to get to a trampoline is if you sprinted there. Once the blue moon rose it was finally my turn I got on and started to jump then I noticed everyone was doing summersaults in the air, so I tried it. I figured out I couldn't even do half a summersault, and the one time I tried I felt like I was going to break my neck. Once we were done we would usually go t the sport courts we usually played badminton, but it didn't work well since there were only two rackets, so we would usually go by the pond. The pond was man made a few years ago; it was a beautiful, calming, relaxing place to be. It contained Lilly pads, fish, tad poles and scarce variety of flower and grass. Whenever you were tired, stressed or depressed the pond was a great place to be. In the mornings and night we would meet there to say our hi's and good bye's. Another thing we could do is seeing and petting the horses. There were two horses we could see at anytime, one horse's name was Ivy, and she was a beautiful snow white horse and her baby Zoey who was a soft warm grey skin tone. Ivy was a very well-trained horse but Zoey being only 3 months old sometimes nibbled or bit you. Another thing we could've done during free time or in the mornings was go to the cabin. Our cabin was cabin 4, it was in fair condition. When you enter on your left was one bunk bed (1Ashley ) across from it was another bunk bed (2christine's) between the two was a pole going horizontally, it was there to hang wet towels. Next to bunk two was the bathroom we had schedules for the bathroom, on the first day it was me who went first then I was second, then third, then fourth, then fifth. It worked out perfectly since there were 5 of us and 5 days. After we all finished showering the bathroom was no longer a bathroom it was an outdoor swimming pool with lots of bugs in it. Next to the bathroom was another bunk (3 Ashlen ) across from it was another bunk bed (4 Jodie) in the middle was night table. Side by side was my bunk (5) and bunk 4. There were 5 of us me, Ashlen , Ashley , Jodie, and Christine. When we weren't having free time we had night time activities like watching movies and doing karaoke. The first night we watched a movie called "Avatar." It was an amazing movie, it was the third time I watched that movie. It had to do with what we were supposed to learn by the end of the week. It was about people in the real world looking for a precious stone under a gigantic tree in the avatar world, so now the avatars have to work together to save their home. We watched the movie on Monday and we continued it on Tuesday. On Wednesday we had a karaoke night, it was unbelievably hilarious. A lot of boys attempted to sing and our teachers put on an amazing performance. A few girls tried it but it was little hard for us to go up, I think only me and 2 other girls were the only ones who didn't sing. I was glad I didn't sing because I would have embarrassed myself, I stink at singing! On the last night we watched "Robin Hood." Although we didn't get very far because we arrived late and we were all tired so they turned the movie off earlier. That night I hit that pillow hard and the next thing I knew I was on my way home!!!

 

                          Teen Ranch was an amazing experience. The things that I think will affect me the most was the skating and the wilderness survival challenge.  Skating was phenomenal, I haven't been on the ice for about 6 years and being on the ice again was the most amazing and most exhilarating feeling I ever felt. I wasn't the best at skating but for someone who hasn't been on the ice for a long time I was pretty good, until we played hockey where I was clearly terrible. Wilderness survival was one of my favourite activities; it really opened my eyes with being with nature. I also learned that when dealing with survival the number 3 is a very important number. (You can survive for 3 hours without warmth, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food, or if you don't you might face severe sicknesses and there are 3 letters in the phone number 9-1-1)  For the five days we were there we were supposed to learn about community living and by the end of the week that's exactly what we learned. The whole week we had to learn to co-operate with each other and rely on each other. We also learned to be independent since our parents weren't there to do it for us. Map orienteering was also lots of fun I finally learned how to read a map properly ad we learned a lot about the ranch. In the cabins we learned how to be calm in frustrating situations and how to co-operate with each other. During free time we learned to share very well, taking turns, and to include everyone. When we were on clean up and set up (This was during, before and after meals) we learned to clean up after ourselves and cleaning up after other people. Teen Ranch was the most exciting, interesting, and most amazing thing I have ever done, there was so much to do in such a small amount of time. As soon as you get there you'll have a great time and then before you know it you're on your way home. I hope we get to go back to Teen Ranch next year.  All you got to do is go there, have a good time and let the wind take you on a wild ride!

                                                                   By: Dani

 

teen ranch essay

   Teen ranch

Teen ranch was a great experience of community living with my friends. We did so much in such little time. I wish that teen ranch was longer than its usual time we stayed. But one thing that hit me real hard is now I know my friends much better. Example my closest friend is now one of my best friends. The first thing I thought about first is about the food cabins and washrooms. But now I wasn't so bad actually it was my best week in my whole life so far.

                                                           Hiking

  At teen ranch we went for this long wonderful hike. We went through the forest and into the hills. A special thing we all got to do was horseback riding. We went in the forest and back with the horses. But something that was funny and smelly was I stepped in horse dung. My big horses name was mouse. Mouse was a very nice horse. But it was frightening. My first time seeing such a big horse from this close and I have to ride it. But in the end it all worked out.  I'll never forget my horse mouse. Horseback riding was really fun and scary at the same time.

                                                       Skating

    So moving on to skating. Ok maybe I'm not good at skating but it's ok it was still a lot of fun. I slipped a couple times but I was okay. But I hurt my bottom and fell so hard I felt like the end of the world. Ok thought skating was bad wait until you play hockey it's a bummer and I mean it. I would fall even if a feather hit me.  But when I watch TV is like there born to skate and they are! If you compare me to my friends I would be humiliated. They can probably skate faster than me while skating backwards. To me I think my friends are show offs. Well that everything I can say about teen ranch skating.

                                                     Cabins

  Ok I think you now that teen ranch is great place but you're wondering were are we sleeping? We sleep in cabins smelly old cabins yes I said it. We all have to share a cabin there are groups of 5 to 6. My group had 5 people including. Ok there are washrooms of course and what are they like. They were great until day 3. There was dirt all over the floor and water. So far as I know the washrooms were horrible because of us. The people in my cabin were pretty nice they were so funny at night we would keep on talking and talking. So yea my cabin plan was good.

 Sometimes you want things to last longer but it would never happen I was like those people know one can fill in my shoes from what I have been through with my friends and living in nature. So when you have an opportunity to do something special you should have the fun times in your early ages. Teen ranch was not only a fun trip it also means something it's a five day get away from everything and live with your fellow class mates for a week. I learned to be thankful for what you get. Some people never get this opportunity thank you for everything god and I hope life still goes good.

Teen Ranch

Teen Ranch Essay

Being away from your family for an entire week does not seem like fun, however, it depends where you are going and with who.  If you go to Teen Ranch, I can practically guaranty that you will have a great time. There is such a wide variety of activates to keep you occupied. Trust me you will never be bored.  It is as a fantastic place to make new friends and form close bond with acquaintances.  It's like living in a big family oriented community. It gave me an opportunity to experience different things.

On the bus I was thinking how exciting it would be sharing a cabin with Caroline, Jade, Theresa, and Kathleen. Upon arriving the first thing we did was to go check out the cabins. Eagerly my roommates and I ran towards our cabin with our luggage. Our room had four bunk beds and one single bed. We immediately dropped our bags on our chosen bed. The walls were painted green and the bathroom was fairly small. Once settled we decided on a showering schedule.

The ringing bell indicated that we should head to the dinning hall. We were having so much fun time seems to pass by very quickly and soon it was night and time to head back to our room to get ready for bed. The last person to get into bed had the responsibility of turning out the light. It was so dark she complained that she could not see to get to her bed. I volunteered to turn out the light for her.  I was so tired I wanted to fall asleep but no, one of my room mates was too excited to sleep and just kept talking and annoying everyone else.  We all started to yell at her to be quiet but she just kept going on and on for another ten minutes.

As we were approaching Teen Ranch, one of the first things we noticed was two horses. Latter we learned the large white horse was named Ivy who was the mother of the smaller grey horse named Zoey. On the first day, at free time my friends and I went to go see the horses. Our instructor told us that we were allowed to feed the horses. I plucked some grass and gave it to Zoey. Her mouth tickled my hand, while she was eating. Ivy came and gently pushed her baby out of the way and started eating out of my hand.  Once she was done I grabbed some more grass for Zoey. My friend came over to me with an apple which I gave to Ivy. We all kept on giving her apples until her mouth got all foamy which was a pretty disturbing sight.  We enjoyed feeding the horses so much that we came to visit them every day.

On the second day of our trip we got the opportunity to go horse back riding. My friends and I were thrilled as we had never been horse back riding before. One of our instructors showed us the basics of riding a horse; she used an extension cord to demonstrate. We headed to the horse barn were another instructor demonstrated on a horse. I and the rest of the group were instructed to get helmets and told to go outside and pick our horse. The horse I picked was named Cola. Once I was mounted on Cola, she started to move. Cola headed towards a water bin at the same time as my friend's horse squishing my leg against my horse side. I was so relived when my horse moved away. It was funny because my friend horse kept on following my horse. We lined up the horses and headed into the forest. It was so much fun going up and down the trail. When your horse is going up hill it feels like you are going to fall backwards. When you go down hill it feels as though you are going to fall forwards. Luck was with me as my horse made it through the forest without stepping in manure.  Cola was very obedient and stayed in line for the whole ride. Sadly the ride was over before I knew it. I didn't want to get off the horse so I waited for my instructor to help me off. I was looking forward to our next riding session.

Horse backing riding was so exhilarating I couldn't wait for the next day. I was anxious to get back on Cola. Unfortunately, Cola was chosen by someone else. My new horse's name was Mouse. He was not as obedient as Cola and started to move around as soon as I was mounted. I pulled on the reins to stop him, but he wouldn't listen until I pulled very hard several times. Once we were in the forest, my horse bent down to eat grass. I wasn't paying attention so he jerked me forwards. I thought that I was going to fall off. Using all my strength I managed to pull up his head while thinking to my self this will be a stressful ride. Mouse kept hold of the grass in his mouth and would not drop it.  As we approached a grassy field Mouse again bent down to get more grass. This time I was prepared, so I pulled up his head when I saw him starting to go down. Mouse saw an apple and tried to reach it. I learned my lesson and pulled his head up immediately. Throughout the ride I had to constantly watch Mouse as he was always looking for food. It really was a hectic ride, but I still enjoyed it.     

One event at Teen Ranch stands out in my memory. Through out the entire week I was dreading playing the game predator and prey. My entire grade was called into the dinning hall with the instructors and teachers. Our instructor explained the rules of the game and told us which animal we were. I unfortunately was designated a tiny little chipmunk.  I was definitely prey and had to run away from so many predators.

We headed outside towards the forest, our destination being the bonfire site.  Just as I was about to sit down our instructor told the herbivore to run.  We scattered in different directions.   I attempted to hide and was sneaking around when I saw my classmates who were elements.   My fellow herbivores attempted to quietly sneak away but were spotted thus we all made a mad dash in different directions.  Unfortunately one of my enemies started to chase me.  With my heart pumping madly I ran as fast as I could even though it was raining and muddy.  In the background I heard my friend yelling "run Tiffany run".   Beginning to feel exhausted I slowed down and let my foe capture me.  As he was waiting for me to give him one of my lives, he commented that I was jumping and running away like a ninja. Of course this made me chuckle a little bit

As I was walking through the wet and soggy forest I was spotted by a carnivore.  He started running towards me and my instinct was to run away. As I was running and jumping over some obstacles I accidentally ran down a hill. The predator stopped chasing me since he couldn't see me anymore. Once he passed along I decided to climb back up.  While I was climbing back up I tripped over a branch and felt a stinging pain go through my right leg. Pulling up my pant leg I saw a cut about the length of my finger across my leg.

Luck was not with me as reached to top of the hill a bunch of elements came rushing towards me asking for my lives.  I thought this it not fair for all of them to take for my lives at the same time.

I was just walking around aimlessly searching for food and water when I met up with one of my friends. We decided to stick together.  This did not help us to stay alive as more people came and killed us.  Finally we heard the whistle to signal we should return to the bonfire pit.  I was relieved and overjoyed that the dreadful game was over.

I was cold, wet and covered in mud like most of my class mates. Once the head count was over we made our way back to the dinning hall to count our scores.  My score was fairly low as I expected since I was a prey.  Boy I am glad I am not a chipmunk. The life of an herbivore is filled with so much danger. Happily I ran back to my cabin to the washroom to take much needed shower.   

Overall going to Teen Ranch was eye opening.  I got to experience living with my friends, for an entire week and completing many activities together. I feel that I got to know my fellow students better and I have a closer bond to my roommates.  Teen ranch gave me the opportunity to try new things like horse back riding and gave me a new understanding about co-operation.  I learned that everyone has to work together as a group, to maintain a peaceful community.

                                                                             By: Tiffany K.

Teen Ranch Essay

Teen Ranch

            How do you picture Teen Ranch? I don't want to ruin your surprise, but Teen Ranch is like the beautiful outdoors I've never seen before. The indoors are wonderful as well. From my experience, I have a gigantic feeling that once we turn 50, we will still be discussing Teen Ranch with our friends. As you can tell, we had lots of fun, so just to warn you, if you go to Teen Ranch, try not to have too much fun because then you will never want to go back home. This essay is going to be about my three favorite things at Teen Ranch.

            Teen Ranch had the best horseback riding I had ever done in my life! Once we got to the barn, I put on my helmet and ran outside. There was a herd of horses to pick from. The biggest horse there was named Spider and the smallest horse was Molly. The horses were so beautiful; so I ended up choosing a soft, light brown and male horse. Right away I knew that he was going to be a great horse and he was. His name was Charlie. If I could, I would explain until tomorrow, how well trained I thought he was. He listened to every single thing I wanted him to do and I had no complaints about him. On the inside I felt almost happier than someone winning the lottery. I was also happy because I got to meet some really nice people too. Their names were Nikki, Cory and Agatha. Agatha was our leader for the week up there. Besides, they helped us learn to ride a horse, so without them we wouldn't have had an awesome experience during our two days of horseback riding. They were such good horseback riders.

            Meanwhile, the day after finishing our last day of horseback riding, we all gathered together to play predator vs. prey. I was chosen to be a chipmunk, so I was a herbivore. The point of the game was for herbivores to collect food and water cards, for carnivores to collect herbivore cards and for omnivores to collect carnivore and herbivore cards. The game took place in a big forest, on a rainy day, which had many things to watch out for such as mud piles, some cliffs, logs, big rocks, the swamp of no return and e.t.c. As the game started, many herbivores were the first to find food and water cards. During the middle of the game, it wasn't going to well for anyone. Many food and water stations were empty, but lots of people were getting hurt and falling, including me. As I was getting chased I didn't realize, but I was heading for a cliff, so luckily the person chasing me, (Josh) yelled so loud "CLIFF," that I was able to hear clearly and I slid away from the tip of the cliff. There was also, people tripping over logs while running. Don't forget, some peoples feet ended up in the swamp of no return, including me, but no ones shoe got sinked away. The whistle blew a few seconds after that incident, which meant the game was over. Luckily no one came back crying and everyone had fun! At the end of the game, I collected about 22 food and water cards and had BUCKETS OF FUN! 

            Teen Ranch had wonderful cabins. I thought of the cabins sort of having some dents in the walls and being small, but they could actually fit 9 people per cabin. There were four bunks and one single bed. It was all carpet except for the washroom. The washroom was tiles. The cabin that my friends and I got was cabin 1, which meant that some certain things didn't look the same as other cabins. My exciting cabin mates were Abie, Keisha, Christina, Christina and Mandy. The funniest moment I won't forget was, one day in the middle of the night, Christina. was waking up to go to the washroom. So she was trying to reach over to my bunk ladder and as she was getting down, she missed a step and fell. It was sad, but kind of funny because her head hit my bunk (which was sad), but once she fell, she responded so loud "I'm okay!" and at the same time she was hoping that she didn't wake up anyone although she woke up the whole cabin except for Mandy. Besides that night, I had a good sleep every other night. I loved my cabin and my cabin mates and I won't forget anything that happened!

            My experience at Teen Ranch was such an awesome experience and we all learned to hang out with other people and to work together as a team with friends during activities. I will NEVER FORGET Teen Ranch! Hopefully in the summer, I can visit Teen Ranch with my family. So I had a great experience and I know that everyone else did too!

                                                                                                                                                     By: Tiffany.

Teen Ranch Essay

"Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success."  "There is no 'I' in team."  "Many hands make light work."  I think these phrases are something that people should read in order to appreciate the wisdom of the message.  These passages help us understand that two people work better than one, the more the merrier, and that people living together can help one another prosper.  The week we spent at Teen Ranch was all about community living.  Of course we had fun, but we all learned something in the process.  We learned that we are all equal and unique, and that we all work best when we worked together as a team.  These concepts were taught and experienced while we were having fun doing activities such as skating, hockey, Predator vs. Prey, and horseback riding.

At Teen Ranch, skating was one of those things that people could not wait to do.  I can skate and had a lot of fun skating on an Olympic sized rink.  For some people, though, this was their first time skating.  All of the people that I talked to also had a good time, and many of them now love skating.  It was nice to have friends that could not skate because it gave me the opportunity to help them, even if it was nothing more than just holding peoples' hands and encouraging them along.  Everybody was a better skater on Friday when compared to how we all began on Monday.  On Monday the rink was filled with screams when people fell, followed by a group of people trying to help them up.  Funny thing is that those people helping would then fall, and it would start all over again until everyone managed to stay on their feet.  At the end of the day, despite sore feet and bottoms, everyone was smiling and waiting for tomorrow when they could skate again.  Aside from skating on the ice, people who wanted to also got the chance to play "hockey."  The people who wanted to play hockey were divided into groups based on how they could skate and their experience level.  With plastic sticks and foam pucks, teams battled as best as they could against each other.  I had so much fun even though I ran into people and felt like a fool.  When I compared the way I played to the way the people who play hockey played, it made me feel like a baby learning how to walk.  Even though I could skate, when playing hockey my legs seemed confused as to how they should work.  This experience taught us that we excel when we have supportive people around us.

          Thursday was a day that either people were regretting or could not wait for.  On Thursday, we got to do our "Instincts for Survival" game which we all know as "Predator vs. Prey."  I personally was hoping that we would not play that game, but my fear and concerns quickly went away when we actually started.  I also got the chance to play this game in grade four and it was not one of my better days.  This day was excellent except for the poor weather that was provided for us.  It happened to be raining that afternoon so we were unfortunate enough to experience running around in slippery mud and horse excretions.  Some people slipped and fell, and I was lucky enough that I did not.  For this game I was a raccoon which is an omnivore.  As an omnivore I could eat the little carnivores, and the food and water cards that were scattered throughout the forest.  I had predators like the wolf and a slew of dangers like old age, extreme weather conditions, and rabies.  It was hard to catch the prey, and difficult to run away from the predators, but it was fun to try and dodge the teachers.  The teachers had balls that they would throw at us, and if they hit us we would have to give up a life.  However, we could sometimes ask them for a life in exchange for a favour, such as washing the boards for a month.  At the end of this game I felt really wet, very sweaty, extremely muddy, and clearly in need of a shower.  On top of this, my cabin had kitchen duty that day and in a half an hour we had to go to set up.  In order to try and look presentable, I rushed back to the cabin and took a shower.  It felt so much better after the shower, even though the showers there were really disgusting.  I encourage people to play this game, but recommend that you play it on a nice sunny day, and if you can help it play where there are no horse excretions.  Predator vs. Prey revealed how the ecosystem works and how tricky it is to work alone and not have anybody to rely on.

From the time I knew that I was going to Teen Ranch, all I could think about was going horseback riding.  I was thrilled at the thought of getting to ride those majestic animals.  I could not believe that I was going to go horseback riding.  After our lesson on how to ride, we went to the barn, where my excitement turned to concern.  First of all, the barn stunk to high heaven.  There were droppings everywhere.  Second, horses are neither the cutest nor the cuddliest looking animals in the world.  I will just say that I was extra careful when I walked up to the horse that I wanted.  Lastly, there was the thought of trusting a horse that I did not know to keep me on its back.  They said that the horses were trained exceptionally well, but how was I supposed to know if I was that one person that the horse did not like.  We got to pick our horse and I tried to pick a sweet looking one, and one that was not too big.  I happened to pick a horse with all those characteristics, and one with a cool name.  My horse's name was April; she was medium sized, with a nice rich dark brown colour.  At the end of our ride I found out that she was also obedient, which I would say comes in handy sometimes.  When the horses started moving around, I will admit that I was nervous, but it was just something that you have to get comfortable with.  During the ride, when we went up and down hills and over rocks, it was a little scary.  My horse, April, did not seem to like rocks either and for the majority of the time, she would walk around them.  At the end of the first ride I could not wait for the second. This was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the trip for me.  My sister also went to Teen Ranch when she was in grade seven, and when she came home she talked about the horses a lot.  Now I understand why she talked about them so much.  Our time with the horses illustrated how we, as humans, can interact, trust, and communicate with animals to make them a part of our team.

The week that I got to spend at Teen Ranch opened up so many opportunities that I would never have been able to do on my own.  I experienced new activities such as horseback riding, hockey, and the game Predator vs. Prey.  Those are just a few of the things I got to do.  I also learned more about other people and more about myself.  I became more acquainted with the people I do not usually spend time with.  That taught me to never judge a book by its cover.  Most of all, I learned that I can be independent and make my own decisions.  The experience that I had at Teen Ranch was a phenomenal one that I am so grateful for, and to be able to spend it with my friends made it even better.  I had so much fun, and I think that anybody who did not enjoy it wasted a big chance to have a great deal of fun and excitement.

-Ashley