Tuesday March 3

Tuesday March 3, 2020

Peter Nikitin:

My name is Peter and I am from Brick, New Jersey. Today was a very fun day because of all the different things we did. It was a great mix of work, play, and learning. At Triple Play, we learned about service dogs, built chairs, and fed and groomed the horses. I got over some fears today was I was first apprehensive to enter the stall with Emma but as soon as I entered, we both calmed down. Then I was able to get Clyde to back up after multiple tries where he didn’t even budge. I enjoyed building the chairs because it was a lot easier than I expected and I liked collaborating with my peers. At Rocky Creek I was pleased to see that a lot of the projects they had for us were a lot of fun. I painted a spool and some of the elements of their trail. The people around me made working even more enjoyable with all the cooperation, dares, and strange but fun conversation topics. For one of the first times I my life I’m actually excited to work. My goal for the rest of this week is having more meaningful conversations and relationships with my peers. I was talking to Molly of how I wanted to but was struggling to achieve this goal. We figured out that I was struggling because I wasn’t listening or wasn’t engaged in conversations. I think I made a great stride at dinner today as I contributed a lot to the conversation and I also listened well. Further, during reflections I really listened to what other people had to say and I enjoyed it and wanted to learn more, so I reached out afterward which I never did before when people were reflecting. I told Molly of my strides and she was so happy for me and hugged me and it was just such a good moment. Then we all hung out and played Quiplash and some trivia game. I ended the day talking to Casey, Jordan, and Bridget till 1 AM. I reached out to them about my desires to have better conversations and friendships with my peers. I was also telling them about how sometimes I don’t feel accepted or adequate in life in general. They were really helpful and really cared about helping me feel more confident in myself and having me focus on the good things. Today was a great day but tomorrow my goal is that I won’t need to have these conversations with my peers. I want to have fun and positive conversations with them. I had some fun conversations with Casey, Jordan, and Bridget after I told them I was done talking about what I was struggling with and I had so much more fun and I hope my conversations for the rest of the week are just as fun.       

Ian Waggoner:

Hi, my name is Ian, and I’m a Junior at Villanova from Springfield, Ohio. Today began in typical fashion, with my roommate Josh waking me up after I slept through the 7:30 alarm. After a rousing breakfast of oatmeal and a bagel, we set out for Triple Play Farms. After getting to spend so much time with the horses yesterday, I was excited to see what today had in store. When we first got there, we met in the main room to discuss our jobs for the day. First on the docket was chair making. Augie and I worked on ours for about 30 minutes. I actually got so invested that, after it was time to switch, I requested to stay in order to finish. Next was grooming the horses. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified when I was told it would be just me and Clyde the horse in his very small stable. However, I was able to make it out alive. Finally, we went to visit the service dogs in-training to learn more about emotional support animals. After finishing our rotations, we broke for our lunch of subway sandwiches, chips, and cookies. Once we were done, we finished up our time at Triple Play Farm and went out to Rocky Creek Ranch. There, we started our projects for the week, focusing on spray painting the animal decorations for the discovery trail. After about 3 hours, we left for dinner at the Mooresville famous eatery, Bad Daddy’s Burgers. As you can imagine, I had an extremely balanced dinner of a burger with the works and a side of tater tots. Finally, we headed back to the hotel for a night of Quiplash and card games. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we’re all looking forward for what the next few days bring! 

Katelyn Wackrow:

Hi my name is Katelyn Wackrow and I’m a sophomore Nursing student from Woburn, MA. Yesterday the group and I spent the morning at Triple Play Farm. We spent our final day there feeding and grooming the horses, building furniture, and meeting support dogs who serve local veterans. Continue the Mission is a nonprofit that pairs veterans with trained service dogs and facilitates extensive relationships and support with the veterans that extends beyond the pairing. One of my favorite parts of the day was spending intimate time with the horses who we were seeing for the last time this trip. After lunch, we said goodbye to Triple Play Farm and drove to Rocky Creek where we were introduced to the projects, we will be working on for the next 3 days. We began fixing up garden decor, making tree faces, and painting giant spoils which will be placed along the sensory trail, a 3-mile-long trail filled with various sensory experiences.

We ended the day with dinner and some relaxation back at the hotel before heading to bed to get ready for the days and work to come!