Page 31 - PINE CREST 2005

The bar was shaking as violently as my ten
year-old sister on a Sharper Image massage chair. My Rachel.Quigley
heart thumped as if desperate to escape. Sweat dripped
down my anguished expression with the magnitude of a Charles.Snyder
summer rainstorm.
As I hung thirty feet
above the cold, cement floor,
dangling by a mere two tendrils
connected by a thin bar, I
wondered how on Earth this
I
height-fearing ballerina was
persuaded to be elevated to the
top of a tent with only the
reassurance of the net below.
Miraculously, only one
sentence was convincing
enough to harness myself to a
safety belt, grip a two-foot taped
bar, and soar: “Ages six and up
are welcome. ”
But testing my limits
for a week in Georgia with the
guidance of the FSU Flying High
t Circus performers and the encouragement of one of the
best trapeze artists I know—Charles Snyder, of the Pine
Crest Crew team, taught me a lot more than how to fall
from the elevated, swinging pole without screaming,
how to twirl fire without creating third degree burns,
and the importance of juggling, it taught me that tying
rock hard pointe shoes to my feet, donning some
scandalous costumes, and performing a ballet solo in
front of the entire school is not the slightest bit daunting
i
compared to simply falling into a net.

Endless blue ocean expanded in front of us as the boat treaded its way closer to our destination.
Framed by jumping dolphins on either side of the bow, Brittany and I leaned over the edge in
amazement of the beauty nature has to offer so close to home. But for our backyard summer
adventure, rather than following Joanne Vasilca north, Brittany and I sought refuge in the calm,

warm waters of the Florida Keys. Caring for, learning about, and entertaining the dolphins at the
Grassy Key Dolphin Research Center, though difficult at times, proved to be one of the most
rewarding experiences of my high school career. Because in the end, we will
conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will

understand only what we are taught.

In the end
we will Conserve
only what we Love,
We will Love only what
w e Understand, and
We will Understand
only what
we are Taught