“On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” These words make up the the Scout Oath, and are so universal as to be cliche and through them and the ideal they propose, generations of boy scouts have become men. But as with any code, the Scout Law is...

It’s hard to talk about influences in my life without discussing my parents. During my early elementary years my mother encouraged me to read. This became my main hobby during the rest of elementary school as I voraciously read everything I could, which I took a lot of pride in at the time. However, this led to some alienation from my peers as I acquired a vocabulary larger than theirs. Both the positive and negative aspects of this situation...

For human beings, life is about finding happiness. To most, this consists of first finding their place in the world where they think they’ll be happy. They do this through a religious calling, or some sort of desperate journey to Europe where they think they’ll “discover themselves.” But, in reality, they never find what they’re looking for and resign themselves to suburban lives which they despise until they die. The problem isn’t that they are unsuccessful...

Like many, I first heard about Deep Springs when I received a postcard inviting me to apply. At the time I was finding it hard to decide what direction to take with my university applications. While there is a lot which interests me, I despise the idea of spending my life stuck in a cubicle, the battery farm of the adult world. Also, High school for me was merely some thought provoking classes scattered in a day mostly filled with...

I’d never been a particularly athletic middle schooler, despite a few years of obligatory youth soccer in elementary school. Instead, like many students, I focused on taking advanced classes and competing in academic competitions. Most of my free time was spent playing video games or “hanging out” with my friends. This all changed part way through my freshman year of high school when I made the decision to to accept my best friend’s invitation to go with his...

My hometown consists of two small cities which live in conjunction with each other. These cities have mostly the same culture, but due to the presence of Texas A&M University, one of the cities is wealthier and has more of a positive reputation for cleanliness and safety. Growing up in this area, I have had many chances to experience the real differences between a city where the local government has the ability and motivation to provide positive benefits to...

Everyone has their own personal Waldo. For some, he is a goal that will take a lifetime to accomplish, such as becoming rich beyond their wildest dreams. For others, he is a person, someone who will supposedly complete them in such a way as to make all of their problems disappear. Just like children with a Waldo book, they look everywhere for Waldo, and might even find him. They answer the question of ‘Just where is Waldo’ with a litany...

I had been waiting for this day for over a year. Most people don't anticipate spending two weeks without showers or real food, but for me, a trek at Philmont Scout Ranch was the highlight of my summer. As we left that day for the fourteen hour drive to northern New Mexico, I anticipated two weeks of backpacking and activities. I got that, and more than I bargained for. The first few days were fairly routine, and were spent preparing...

I couldn’t read in the 1st grade. Sure, I could get along well enough to complete an assignment or struggle through “The Little Engine that Could,” but beyond that I had no clue. I remember in Kindergarten, struggling through a book about anthropomorphised airplanes in front of the whole class. I couldn’t even finish it. While this wasn’t particularly abnormal at the time, it was humiliating to me and threw me off of reading for several years. ...

I have an addiction - music is something I can’t get enough of. I listen to it constantly, no matter what I’m doing. It improves studying, cycling or video games. When I go camping, I find myself jonesing so bad for it my friends and I badly sing Arcade Fire songs. It all started when I was young. My Dad always listened to our local classic rock station and from him I learned to love bands like Pink...