BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Discovering the world

By Lily Ward, age 17 | July 1, 2017

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HATCHING MEMORIES Lily Ward, a rising senior at Lamar High School, will explore Thailand this summer after having a positive experience in Costa Rica last summer.

Last summer, I made a decision to leave the country and participate in a community-service project in Costa Rica for nine days without knowing anyone who would be on the trip. I selected the trip through an organization called Rustic Pathways. The program I selected was the Turtle Conservation Project.

For the next nine days I had the time of my life. I made many friends from different places I would have never gotten to meet otherwise. Our group stayed at the national wildlife refuge on Punta Mala beach in a ranger station right on the beach. The conditions were very rustic, but I had so much fun that I hardly noticed.

During the day, we walked about a half mile down the beach to a turtle hatchery. We worked keeping the hatchery in order. We also walked up and down the beach for a beach cleanup. However, my favorite work that we did was called “night patrol.” We would walk down the beach late at night with absolutely no lights on and look for adult sea turtles that were laying eggs. We would collect the eggs and bring them back to the hatchery, where they would be safe.

When my group was not working on our community service, we spent time doing various fun activities. One of my favorites was ziplining through the rainforest. We also got to have private surf lessons, enjoy Costa Rican food, whitewater raft on the rapids and swim for hours in the ocean.

I loved the trip to Costa Rica so much that I am planning to take another trip in August to Thailand for 18 days through Rustic Pathways. While I am there I will spend half of the trip at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center where I will get to bathe and care for the elephants there. The second half of the trip I will get to go sightseeing around the beautiful country. I love to travel because it gives me the opportunity to learn more about myself and the world around me, and I am incredibly blessed to be able to go on these trips.

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