Girl's Snowboarding, Weekend Two Part II!

Girl's Snowboarding, Weekend Two

Hey, thanks for your generosity… I really appreciate the fact that you gave me an experience of a life time. I really hope that you understand by reading this that it has really meant a lot to me to be here. Thanks for providing the gear and expenses for this weekend…. The aches and pains I feel in my body right now is totally worth it. Thanks to you tomorrow when I go to school I will be able to tell my friends.

-Anonymous

Hi!
This has been one of the greatest weekends of my life, I was able to conquer my fear of heights and just go for it. To speed down a hill and see snow, to feel carefree if at least for a few hours and leave my life in South Central behind has been an amazing opportunity.
Thank you for providing a beautiful home for our stay and for giving as the equipment we need. From the bottom of my hearth I thank you for your kindness. May you be blessed with thousands of “thank you” and beautiful moments too.

-Berenice Bautista

This is Maria Cherry Ruvalcaba and I wanted to thank everybody that made this trip and snowboarding happen! I myself love to snowboard and nature, so for me it was an AWESOME weekend! Thank u guys for letting us sleep in a home that it’s beautiful and the equipment that we need to snowboard of course lol! THANK UUUUUUUUU!!!

-Maria Ruvalcaba

What an adventure! From starting the day walking up the Green bunny slope to making the lift operators hold the lift open for us on the last run of the day so we could kick butt down a dope Blue run, the girls did AMAZINGLY!! I was so impressed by ALL OUR LADIES today! Hopefully they will continue to practice their skills on the slopes…. We need more snowboarders is this world, haha  And these girls have serious potential!! I don’t think I learned how to snowboard half as quickly when I started out as everybody did today. Their dedication and willingness to push themselves blew me away!!! I don’t think I heard one person complain about being tired or refusing to try it again…

HOLD UP… someone put the wrong type of soap in the dishwasher, and there are bubbles EVERYWHERE.
~Okay, Derrion’s got it under control!

I love this group!!!
xoxo
Kristina

BIG THANKS TO BOARDING HOUSE MENTORS for this awesome opportunity on behalf of all mentors and mentees of Youth Mentoring Connection. I am definitely grateful to be apart of YMC’s team and this snowboarding retreat. This experience was refreshing as well as rewarding in every aspect. I had the opportunity to attend last year’s snow boarding retreat and I am happy that I was invited to come again. Over the weekend I realized that I look forward to this event. I am ecstatic to be surrounded by such caring and wonderful individuals. Personally; I cannot imagine my life without Youth Mentoring Connection, mentors, and our teens.

-Derrion Wyatt (YMC’s Youth Services Coordinator)

This is the 3rd time I participate in a snowboarding adventure that I have experienced so far, to be placed in the Wisdom group and actually sleep, for the first time I slept so well in a bed that was not mine. Imagine my surprise in the morning, when I saw that above my bed was the Japanese symbols for” wisdom”. Our snowboarding lessons where amazing, Kristina, Lindsay and Hilary are the best instructors, while they each have their own ways of teaching the three of them are very patient.
“They surest way to corrupt our youth is to have them look up to people who think the same way they do.” In order to prevent this we have to step out of our comfort zone and meet people that share a different perspective of life, different ideas. And very painful but well earned bruises…. lol

-BERENICE

This weekend has been so interesting for me; I mean Hoolie Boo always has been there to challenge me and to push me out of my comfort zone…Snowboarding was so cool and it was another life lesson (DON’T GO SNOW BOARDING WITHOUT YOUR KNEE BRACE)…but other than that it was great. My mentor was there the whole way and I am so grateful for DERRION WYATT. I am so blessed YMC paired me with her because this was totally life changing.

-PEACE & LOVE ALLISHA AkA LeLe2FLYY

What’s up this be the only Gardy .Today was the most painful day eva man, the mentors did a great job teaching me how to snowboard but it was very difficult. I was surprised Hilary kept patient because I sure wasn’t. Other than that I think it was a great experience plus I never seen snow before so it was something new, I just don’t want to snowboard again but that’s the reason why I came to this trip TO SNOW BOARD but whatever I guess I'll give it my all [Hoping] but my legs are sore like really badly and I miss my booo but anyways yeah this trip is going to bring something new in my life. And I'm grateful.

-Gardi Romero

Initially, I was nervous as I had never taught snowboarding, and for most of the girls this would be their first time. I definitely was thinking things like, what if I taught them wrong or wasn’t able to help them have fun. I wasn’t saying anything about these feelings but I was feeling them. So, when we got on the mountain almost EVERY single girl after putting their boards on, and listening to our lesson, was unsure of us and snowboarding in general. The look on their faces said, oh No, this is too hard. This had the other mentors and I worried, however, after ignoring the grumbling we got them up the hill. Then each of us mentors started working one on one with each of the girls and within about two hours we got all of the girls riding down and most of them learned to stop without falling. Not only were they riding but they were having FUN! We mentors were shocked, and TOTALLY stoked because the girls were not only having fun, but they were doing SOOOOOO incredibly well. Each of them made me proud to have helped them, as I had been insecure that I wouldn’t be able to help them progress. Not only did I enjoy seeing them happy but their successes made ME PROUD and SO HAPPY! Thanks Ladies!

-Evelyn Aguilar

WOW!!! YO, I JUST CAME BACK FROM SNOWBOARDING AND IT WAS SO FREEKIN AWESOME DUDE… AT FIRST I WAS HESITANT AND I SORTA KINDA ADDED ANOTHER INTENTION TO MY LIST WHISCH IS PUSH MYSELF TO BE THE OUTGOING ADVENTUROUS PERSON GERICA IS…. SO I KEPT ON GOING. THE ONLY THING THAT I REALLY DON’T LIKE IS “SKATING”. BUT FOR THE MOST PART HILARY REALLY IMPRESSED ME AND KRISTINA WAS THE BOMBEST EVER LIKE SERIOUSLY DUDE…

-Hilary Holmes (Snowboarding Mentor)

Hello my friend! What’s up?
I’m just sitting at the computer and I have an amazing group of ladies and women around me. I woke up this morning with a smile on my face… I thought I was happy until I seen some people that were super happy, then I turned mad… J/K. I believe I left my stress back in L.A. but it’s waiting for me when I get back to L.A. Luckily my intentions for this weekend are to learn things that will help me tackle the problems that I have when I get back and also breathe.

-Gerica Preston

Girl's Snowboarding Trip 3/6-3/8

Well this weekend was like the best. I was getting sick but I had very good times and it was really cool. What I learned from this experience is that never think you can't do something because it looks hard but really easy. Also never keep nothing inside you that is so painful 'cause you may not know but you have people around you that do care. But I love my weekend.

Lizbeth

Thank you so much for these opportunities that you gave me. I learned so much that I think I would never know how to do so thank you so much.

Love,
Yaddi

This weekend was amazing. These opportunities that we get in the mentoring program are never going to come around, because in life nothing is free. With these trips I've learned how to deal with my part and to let go of everything that isn't important in my life. I thank all of you guys for giving me all these opportunities and having just an amazing heart.

Gaby!

This weekend was a really eye-opening experience for me. It really breaks my heart to hear of all the tough life situations these young women must face on a daily basis. They are bold and courageous, and I can't wait for their futures ahead. Thank you for letting me share this weekend with YMC.

Lindsey

Leave problems behind, gain all trust, share secrets, treasure new memories. Ride down mountains, cheer your friends on from the side. Talk about how our future should be, then head back to YMC.

Raquel (Rock)*

This mountain is sacred. A place to be free, a place to express who it is we want to be. We open up about our past to people we really don't know, but we can tell the love they have for they always let it show. They really listen to our past. We were really able to vent. I learned not to live life too fast, for there are some things I can prevent. So I'm asked what it is I'll behind in this sacred place, I look up to the highest peak and this is what I say: The questions not what it is I'll leave but the question is what will I take back home with me that I have learn is that everyone makes mistakes.

La'Toya

This weekend was incredible since I was able to come to see the mountains and for the first time see the snow. Also it was great because I learned how to snowboard, thanks to the help of all the mentors that were by my side when learning. I thank everyone for giving me this opportunity of being here meeting new people like in the retreat. I never spoke to Liz, Raquel or the other girls but this weekend I was hanging out with Liz most of the time and I really like her. I just hope that I could still continue coming back every year if it's possible. I really admire many of the girl's strength when they decide to talk about how they have suffered through life. And like I said I hope that I can be in the mentoring program for life because you always learn new things everytime you spend time with girls your own age and see how hard life is with everyone not only on ourselves

Ana

Men's Snowboarding Weekend 02.21.2009

Snowboarding was a great experience it help me learn there are times to think and time to just go for it , because when snowboarding decisions have to be made in a split second. Im taking down the decision making skills I gained from the experience of snowboarding .I would like to thank graham for teaching me even if u where deled a bad hand u can always make it up later, and I would also like to thank all the mentors for listening some of us don’t have a male role model in our life to talk to and it just great to have someone like that in your life.

Alvin

This weekend was an unbelievable experience for me. I learned just as much if not more from the boys, as they learned from me. The boys were so inspirational! When initially volunteering this weekend I wasn't sure what to expect. If fact I was nervous. However, it was extremely enlightening to see the way that everyone came together and supported one another.

On Saturday evening we had a group discussion about what was stopping one another from becoming ourselves and what is keeping us from becoming man. Throughout the discussion I kept asking my self the same two questions Tony asked the boys. I realized that I too needed to answer these questions for myself. The young men were very inspirational in showing me how determined they are into changing their life even amongst the true chaos that they live in. If the boys are able to make decisions and changes in their life for the better, what is stopping me and the rest of world from doing the same?

Truth of the matter is many times we are just scared and fall into a trap of worrying what other people think of us. This prevents us from moving forward in society. The boys showed me there is nothing to be scared of. Many of the young men had never snowboarded before or only snowboarded a hand full of times. They showed true courage in attacking the mountain and they weren't afraid to make mistakes. In fact by the third run down the slopes they were attempting jumps and sliding on boxes. I thought this was a metaphor for ones life. We should NOT be scared to attack the mountain of life and we shouldn't be afraid to leave the ground and jump out of our comfort level. Maybe we all need to take a trip with the boys from South Central Los Angeles and find the deeper meaning in life. Why should we be afraid to help change one life, one community, one world?

Thank you so much for a great weekend!!!!

GJ

Gentlemen,
It was a pleasure meeting all of you this weekend and I can honestly say that that was one of the best crews I've ever been to the mountains with in all my years of riding. I hope we can all make it up for future trips and for the surfing sessions this summer.


Kyle

Hay its Creedy D again,
Reporting live form Big Bear, here to cool you up a bit! I aint never had this much fun snowboarding in my life and I go every Monday (Shouts out to Chill). At first I was sure what to expect, but good LORD! Not only was ripping the mountain tons of fun, but I got so much out of conversing and observing. For example, I learned how much alike snowboarding is to life. I had to stop and realize that… “Oh yeah, Rome wasn’t build in a day.” And as soon as I got that I had to ask some questions. How did I fall off that jump, why is that rail so hard? (And so on and so on.) That’s when I had to look at myself, and critique. I saw that it was nothing more than me stopping myself. I freaked out at the fact that I could not see over a jump and I felt like I was not in control. But, since I compared life to snowboarding I realize that I do the same thing on a daily basis. Since something may seem hazy and not clear, I might not try it. Due to this new way of thinking, I talked myself into taking more jumps and rails. And as soon as I did I succeeded… “Hay maybe life can be the same way.” If I try something, even though it may seem hard or stressful I can succeed. Not always on the first time, but I will succeed!

This Was A Public Service Announcement Brought To You By:
Creon Dotson (A.K.A) Creedy D

BIG BEAR SNOWBOARD TRIP

I had a real good experience snowboarding. Within a few hours I got better even though I feel a lot of times and hurt my knee. When I leave big bear I’m going to take home a lesson that I can’t always solve people problem until I can get through mine.
By: RENARD HAMILTON

Hello my name Daniel this has been my second time snowboarding, this is the most kolas snowboarding trip I have ever had. I learned new trick ,high jumps, and also learned how to grind on bars. But my favorite spot is the half pipe. The half pipe is the Is the most crazies tricks you can do in there. And this is want I like about trip.

Marcus: The experience of snowboarding is a fun and knowledgeable experience I learned something new every time I went up the mountain and when I went down.
What I’m bringing down the mountain is the ability to challenge myself more because challenges make me a stronger person.
I had help from every individual who went snowboarding lessons from how to control the board to flying lessons and landing lessons.

Me REY had the best time ever. I got to meet new people and a new experience and I learned more self confidence, that was something really important. I had a lot of fun and I had help from all the people but especially kyle and tony. When I get home Ima use the same thing I used in the mountain and that was patience.
And I really want to thank tony and the mentors for being there for me and the rest of us.
So THANK YOU…

“A mind is its own place it can make a hell of heaven, a heaven of hell”
I use these words to make good out of well, shit in my life.
“ Sometimes grace sips away and it seems the word has changed,
just know as we fall there are rocks always below,
#$@* it! make the best of this, because this pain is all we know”

And I just wrote this….right now! ^.^
My mind works weird, sometimes I’m surprised at things I do or say. I don’t know if that is a good thing or not. Take it as you will I’m unpredictable.
“The cup was half full and soon to over flow”
Though the questions I ask myself help me at times, and that helps me see.
I’m still in need for glasses.lol

Anthony Mancha

I T33z had the most fun in two days then ever. I even hurt my self and said what ever. No worries except going full out. Enjoy the weather and God’s creation, which I took time to notice the world is here for me and I need to take kind of that. Yeah talents are deep inside, but you need to show them outside yourself, and kind all right fine
I asked for help from a mentor about how to grind a rail. Went for it and landed on a snowy trail. Well I’m going to bring down the vision of not being scared and focus on what’s going on in my head. Yeah much love to Boarding House Mentors
Love how they give youngster and even grown man a chance to enjoy another side of life. Where usually no one would give a _ about others and you guys do thank you.