College Essay on Resilience: How Adventure Treks Helped Me Grow Stronger & More Confident

By LeeLee C. from Hendersonville, NC; student from 2022–2026 on Pacific Northwest Adventure, Peru Expedition, Alaska Expedition, Norway Expedition

At two o’clock in the morning, I woke to my tent shaking. Sam, an instructor on our trip, was quietly waking me and five others so as to not disturb the many students around us. I climbed out of my sleeping bag and searched for my headlamp beneath the belongings of the four of us staying in the tent.

After getting dressed and packing my pack, I stepped outside and was immediately swarmed by mosquitoes in the heavy Washington summer air. My attention was immediately taken, though, by the huge mountain to my right. Three weeks of backpacking had led to the journey upon which we were about to embark: climbing Mount St. Helens. After a rushed breakfast of instant oatmeal, my group began the walk to the trailhead. In the pitch black just before 3 am, we nervously chatted about the so-called “vertical beach” and “boulder field” that awaited us on the mountain. After a picture in front of the National Volcanic Monument sign, we began climbing what seemed, at first, to be the gradual incline of Mount St. Helens. However, the many necessary water and snack breaks eventually proved that this was not going to be easy.

Before long we passed the tree line and had a clear view of the top of the mountain, giving us a newfound sense of motivation to keep going. A few more hours of climbing on boulders and slogging through deep ash brought us to the summit.

Standing on the peak of Mount St. Helens with the Cascade range on one side and the crater of the volcano on the other, watching the sun peek over the horizon, it was settled within me that whatever hardship I went through to get to that moment was worth it.

Before going to Washington, I had never considered spending part of my summer on a strenuous outdoor adventure. A few months earlier, though, in the counselor’s office of my middle school, I was offered a full scholarship to take a trip to Washington State to backpack, canoe, and summit Mount St. Helens with Adventure Treks, a teen adventure program. I was incredibly nervous flying across the country to spend three weeks with people I didn’t know, but I decided to do it, and I am so grateful I did. Backpacking in the Olympic Peninsula and Northern Cascades with no prior experience was difficult, and it completely changed my perspective of my physical and mental limits. In fact, I went on to take two more trips with Adventure Treks to Peru and Alaska, and I plan to go to Norway next summer.

On each of these trips, I had moments of pain, whether it was homesickness or an injured knee. And while these things felt incurable in the moment, I persevered every single time, building resilience and confidence. I continue to carry the lessons I have learned on these excursions through my everyday life. Little things like speaking up in class or talking to new people may seem uncorrelated with backpacking, but for me, they have proved to go hand in hand. Going out of my comfort zone for three weeks in the summer makes me more confident for the rest of the year. Before Adventure Treks, I doubted my limits, both physically and mentally. I never would have thought I could spend a week hiking in the backcountry or quickly get to know 20 other high schoolers from very different backgrounds and cultures, most of whom became close friends.

While these things were no doubt uncomfortable, they showed me that uncomfortable things have good outcomes all the time.

My decision to take that risk in eighth grade has played a huge role in defining my confidence and I plan to continue applying the lessons I’ve learned to everything I do as I graduate high school and begin the journey of my adult life.