My Surprising Accomplishment

by Jasmine, Freshman Scholar and Guest Blogger

I was selected to participate in the Freshman Scholars Program here at Ferrum College. During this program, we have had multiple evening and outdoor social activities. One of the activities that stood out for me was the high ropes course. The high ropes course happened to be 40 feet off of the ground, and everyone was scared out of their minds!  This activity made me acknowledge how far I can go out of my comfort zone. This specific task involved a lot of trust in everyone in our group and especially trust in myself.  Only the brave went first, and I decided to gawk at the difficulty of the obstacles and the drive everyone had to make it past the first task. It felt good to see and hear our new friends and faculty members cheer us on.  I am really impressed at everyone who was able to get up there and complete the obstacles safely.  I did not complete the high ropes course because I began to panic once I climbed to the top platform for the first obstacle. When Cari attached me to the ropes to climb up the pole, I had already sufficiently talked myself out of it.

Everyone else's accomplishments went out of my head, and I decided not to motivate myself to go on. I felt bad because I felt as though I let my partner down.  There is a mutual trust and motivation you share with your partner, but she was scared too and I did not pursue the motivation. However, I was proud of myself for going as far as I did because after I called down from climbing up to the platform, I went zip-lining!  I could never explain how I got through zip-lining and not the high ropes course.  I felt a lot more relaxed when it came time for me to try the zip-line. I paired up with someone who also had trouble with the high ropes course, and we both loved zip-lining!