Since starting NYAA silver and then going on to do NYAA gold, I’ve always found that the NYAA experience is one that encourages growth and character development through challenge. Although this method of development isn’t unique to NYAA, the NYAA encourages this growth through many facets. Service, Healthy Living, Outdoor appreciation and the Community project – all of these categories serve their own purpose in helping me become a better person.
In service, my goal was to achieve a position of high responsibility and maintain it. And in keeping that goal for me I found myself more driven in other aspects of my high school career, as I found that it was vital to maintain a strong drive to improve yourself and maintain a strong work ethic for any part of your life that you care about.
Before I used to mainly play sports that were much more individually orientated, such as golf and tennis; although those sports have their own merits to building character traits such as independency and passion – I found that committing myself to my goal of team sports developed my character in a profound way too. Not only was it extremely fun to get closer to people I know and even make new friends in sport that is really fun, it was even more rewarding when progress towards my goal translated into a play that was executed flawlessly or my friends trusting me more. This is because my goal was to develop my physicality and technique in a way that would make me a more dependable team player. I did this by not only committing to routinely attending sessions of softball and volleyball in which I would hone my technique, but also months of doing fitness at home and weight and cardio training at the gym. After doing these activities I’m proud to say that I am much closer with my friends and that I was able to help teach and build the passion of younger students in team sports.
After completing my outdoor education project, feel confident in saying that it is extremely unique. This is because I used what I had learned from my old physics teacher and mother about spirituality and meditation, and applied it to myself in order to increase my calmness and overall happiness. I found that by taking hikes at MacRitchie reservoir with a friend and then meditating it was not only educational as I learnt about the ecosystem by I had also learnt to be more at peace with myself by embedding myself into that positive ecosystem through meditation.
In conclusion I have found the NYAA GOLD experience to be an incredibly enriching and educational way to apply myself meticulously in all aspects of my life, and develop my character in an unforeseeably positive way. I am very glad to have been able to take part in this.