Adventures of the Mind - Anscia Brown

 The opportunity to attend the Adventures of the Mind program was wonderful! I am blessed to be one of 164 students to attend this program. The program happens every two years and it will be more interesting as the program evolves. The people there were amazing and they came from all over the United States of America.

 

When I first arrived in Montana; I was shocked. Missoula, Montana is such a quiet place. The atmosphere is very different from Washington, DC. Everything in Montana is much more quiet & calm. However, that did not bother me. The scenery was breath-taking and I was at a loss for words. 

 During the day we would have sessions in a college auditorium. While I did not like sitting in the chairs for a long time, the sessions were very interesting and it prepared me for my large college classes. The speakers were very interesting and none of them were alike. Each of the speakers had their own distinct personality. A lot of the speakers were science majors, such as a Nobel Laureate who created the Big Bang Theory, or the four other Nobel Laureates who were in our presence. I did not get a chance to speak to all of them but I was honored and blessed to speak to one of them in person. I also had the chance to talk to one of the co-founders of Intelius and the wife of Louis L'Amour at dinner. The people were there for the youth and wanted to get to know you.

The experience was great! I made new friends from New York, Houston, New Jersey, California, Washington, DC and plenty of other cities in the United States. I highly recommend this to other high school students in 2013. The experience will not be boring because there was a party EVERY night and it will either be in Atlanta or L.A. I just wished the program was a week long because I would love to get to know all of the adults and students there. However, we have a Facebook group and I can keep up with them there. If I could do this program again, I definitely would!

Adventures of the Mind - Ty'Ronn Spriggs

 Adventures of the Mind 2011 has been a great experience for me. I was thrilled by all of the amazing artists, entrepreneurs, writers, scientists, Noble Peace Prize winners, cartoonist, athletes as well as those individuals who shared their stories about how some persevered and others “stumbled” into success.

I have never been more motivated to continue doing the things that I do in my community and what I will continue to do as an incoming freshman at Alabama State University. 

Before coming to a little place called Missoula, Montana, I had never felt more empowered to be successful. Being in Missoula and finding out about its rich history and hearing stories and studies about Lewis & Clark has inspired me to focus on my passion and vision as a student mentor and leader.

 The Adventures of the Mind program allowed me to make awesome friendships with people from across the country, including Montana, Kansas, New York, California, Tennessee, Georgia, Maine and even Alaska! Even though we no longer party with each other every night or debate about books by Mark Twain or George Orwell, we still keep in contact via Facebook.

All in all, Adventures of the Mind taught me to continue to be who I am and never be flustered about failing. If I am ever inspired to write a book, the title would be Don't Be Flustered by Failure and the first couple of pages would read: "It all started with a student conference in Missoula, Montana..."

If I had to choose a favorite speaker, I would have to say either Jacques D'Amboise, or Mark Moffett. Jacques has inspired me to continue being the Thespian that I am today...

 

While Mark has taught me that no matter what you're passion is, because you have one, you have something to be excited about. It’s not everyday that someone is passionate about bugs or ants, but meeting Mark has transformed my life.