Sorry about the delay, I was having problems logging in!

Anyways, I got home from camp on Wednesday. I was so tired that I came right upstairs and fell asleep on the couch. After I managed to drag my butt downstairs and take a shower, I felt a little more awake, so I came back upstairs for dinner. As I was eating and showing my mommy some of the thing I made at camp, she mentioned that there was a piece of mail for me on the table. I ran over (because I love getting mail) and it was a manila folder from the Alaska Humanities Forum (who is the head of the Rose Urban Rural Exchange). Yay! I opened it, and inside was a letter and certificate saying me and 5 other students (tow other urban and 3 rural) had all been named Top Cross-Cultural Ambassador for the state of Alaska. AHHH!!!! I was freaking out!! That is SOO cool!!! It means that I get to talk to and meet a whole bunch of important people and that we might be going to Washington D.C. in September!!!! So thanks you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! Especially Mrs. Barton for getting me involved in RURE, Mrs. Abshier for having the guts to take us all to St. Paul, Matthew for teaching us what it meant to be part of a culture and what being an ambassador meant, and Mrs. Kushin giving me the opportunity and the help to be able to go back to St. Paul. I love you guys! You are all awesome!!!!

After the Fact

I just want to say thank you. Thank you to every one that I worked with, thank you to everyone who helped me out, thank you Trenty (for letting my borrow the 4 wheeler), thank you to the St. Paul School District, and most of all, thank you to the Kushin family. Mrs. Kushin, I couldn't have done any of this without your help. I love St. Paul SOOOO much. I miss it a lot and hope to god that I can go back. Thank you everyone. Thank you SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I learned so much this summer. My brain is packed full of all sorts of new things. I registered for school today. East High Thunderbirds! Right now, I'm wearing my East High shirt and my St. Paul sweats. But Mommy and I are sick. Possibly flu. Bummer. I'm leaving for camp on Sunday, so hopefully we'll be better by then. I had written for my status on a social networking website that I had locker #4062. Andronika (from St. Paul) commented and said "Holy locker #4062!" haha. It was amazing. I just loved seeing her shock about the number of lockers in my school. I go to the biggest school in Anchorage now.

I miss St. Paul. A lot. I honestly didn't want to leave. It is just such an amazing place. Although being there in the winter was kind of hard, I loved it there in the summer. It was just great.

Again, Thank you everyone!

Cast of Characters

This is my "cast of Characters". Pretty much just everyone I worked with on St. Paul, but going through the list, I realized that Rachel and Karrith aren't on there. They are the bird people that I did cool things with. But here is everyone else. I'll try to get Rachel and Karrith's proper titles so that they're on there too.

Lisa Matlock - Education Specialist, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

Ingrid Harrald – YCC coordinator, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

Michael Ulroan – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Intern,

Chelsea Malstrom – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Intern,

Bobette Dickerson- Molecular Geneticist, NOAA NMFS AFSC

Louise Taylor - Biological Technician II, field supervisor of Northern fur seal vital rates program, NOAA, NMML

Greg Larsen - Biological Technician I, field researcher of Northern fur seal vital rates program, NOAA, NMML

Terry Spraker - Professor of Pathology

Juan Leon Guerrero - National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Pribilof Island Program, Alaska Region

Greg Thomson - Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Matt Henschen - Biological Sciences Technician, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Aka “Superman”

Yes. Matt is superman. Although he doesn't know quite how funny it was that he wrote that, considering my whole superhero obsession, especially Superman. I have a superman costume that I wear on a regular basis. That's how cool I am. So I think Matt is my favorite right now. Haha.