D.C BABY!!!!!

SOS%20Outreach%20Blog.docx

SOS Outreach (Karen Nolasco)

Washington D.C.

7:00am I wake up to the sound of Baby Got Back by MC Hammer. Only to find out that on the other side of that ringtone was Arn Menconi telling me about an opportunity to go to Washington D.C. “Oh Arn and his ideas” I thought to myself. Of course I agreed to go to Washington, after the numerous e-mails back and forth I finally received my boarding pass. “Oh my goodness. This is legit!” I said to my roommates. D.C here I come. My first time being in a plane since I was 3 years old, luckily I was with another SOS student Paco, he walked me through the whole process. I thought I was going to wake up at any second, going to wake up with the smell of my roommates burning ramen but no I was still on my way to D.C. I was nervous to say the least, going inside a building with so many numbers and rooms and lines I swear I would’ve just started walking home if it wasn’t for Paco. Security was a pain in my butt, I was worried that my 20 piercings would ring up the alarm and a giant security officer would tazer me to the ground. I kept replaying all these horrible scenes in my head about me getting on the wrong plane, or the plane crashing and finally passing through security and gates the only real issue was them taking my mouth wash. (jerks) I walked down the lane to find my seat. This is where I learned that assumptions are bad; this was nothing like the movies. I wasn’t in a high tech plane with television’s in front of me, there were no snakes on a plane, and definitely no Adam Sandler singing a love song from First Class, it smelled like feet and business.

The reason for this trip wasn’t to vacation and explore it was to advocate for something I strongly believed in. Which is to help get kids outdoors rather than spend the majority of the time on Facebook. What I didn’t know was that I was going to be in a room with senators. Meetings …….YUCK. Something about penguin suits makes me feel like another sheep in the pack. Although it was required to wear business apparel, I wish I would’ve made more of a statement, these people see suits all day they won’t forget a girl wearing a SOS t-shirt talking about what she wants. Besides that, I really did enjoy it. Shaking hands, hideous ties, bumping into the mayor of Denver and watching Arn do his thing. I wouldn’t change a thing, I’m not much for sightseeing, I’m one to shake hands of important people. So Ken Salazar, shaking your hand is finally checked off my bucket list, as for you Obama, I will meet with you next time. Sorry I couldn’t make it to our basketball session but I was in a meeting with Mark Udall.

In a lot of the meet and greets, I was surprised to see the representatives of Colorado smile outside of pictures, they are people too, not just robots that I used to believe. Seeing this definitely changed my view of government, I might actually watch their speeches now and not skip the channel as soon as I see I podium and tux. In the meetings we went around the table telling our stories. I’m always talking about keeping kids healthy, always making sure I’m outside as much as I can be and always felt that I am making a difference to one kid at a time. Now going straight to the source to help support the Children outdoor act was incredible, I can be telling my story to the people that will make this possible. I really felt like my voice was being heard and that all those kids had a voice and that was Paco and I. SOS joined up with the Sierra Club, and Veterans and we became unstoppable, meeting after meeting we shared our stories. After hearing the stories about the vets finding their escape in the wilderness inspired me, what about the kids with parents in the army, where is there escape? And can I help them find it? I also shared my story about how I love the outdoors, all the opportunities that wouldn’t be available to me if it wasn’t for SOS, and how I have my very own escape when I’m out in the wild. When sharing our stories it felt as if there was no longer a quiet voice, all those kids are being listened to now.

Overall this whole experience was more than I expected, thank you Arn for making this happen. Now I’m sitting in the air plane still waiting for the engine to be fixed write a blog about what an amazing trip this was, I hope to come back to D.C one day maybe even other places now that I’m more prepared, before I start tearing up I like to say “go play outside damn it!!”.

P.S. airport should get better movies. Chick Flix SUCK!!!!!

DAMN IT KIDS!!!

Go outside its not only good for you but don’t make yourself useless. And what I mean by that is, what if all of a sudden there was no more phones or computers or tv’s. what would you do? Do you know how to put up a tent or start a fire if u needed to? Know where to find clean water, tie a knot, use a compass, ANYTHING!!! What about make food that doesn’t require a microwave? Trust me taking a vacation from all the technology is a great feeling, taking a hike, swimming, climbing trees and rocks, get down and dirty so then you won’t be another person I have to bump into at Wal Mart because they are texting. (I hate that) there isn’t an APP you can buy off iTunes that can give you the same happiness that the outdoors can. For all you xbox junkies. Because I’m one too. All those cool things you see on Call of Duty I would personally like to do, physically. Even fight and run from zombies just like them. But think about it, if you’re not exercising you won’t stand a chance in the zombie apocalypse, so get in shape, and you can still plan your strategy on xbox.