LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 10 Up and Comer: Maddie Olson As a teen who's spent most of her short life in the safety of her home cozying up with a cup of tea by her side and a book in her hand, I never thought I'd ever consider going camping. And definitely not during the winter. But for four days in November, that's exactly what I did. It wasn't a simple decision for me to make. Not at first, at least. I'm the only teen girl in my school that's disabled. I have Cerebral Palsy, a disability that affects muscle tone and coordination on the right side of my body. And as expected, I have an intense hatred for PE and all things sports. I'm not saying that all teens with CP avoid sports, but I've just always believed that try- ing to participate in the exact activities that my body basically prevents me from doing would be — for me — a waste of my time. That all changed when an assembly was presented at my school, one about the freshmen class having the op- portunity to go winter camping in November for four days. And despite my lack of physical fitness and sports expertise, I signed up. I liked nature, and I wanted to experience something new and exciting in a dated and dull area. I met the awesome Carolyn Walton (founder and owner of the WOODS program) while getting my gear fitted, and soon enough, I was on my way. After an hour-long bus ride to Harrietstown's Lake Clear (during which me and a few other girls from my grade sang songs the whole way there), we got off the bus. We expected to be mere seconds away from a warm cabin and comfy tents. We were wrong. Instead, we had to walk about twenty minutes to even get to the camp. Now I'm not one to complain, but it was freezing, and I had no gloves on. My hands, which were both preoccupied with a water bottle in one and a bag in the other, were red in minutes. Despite our al- ready not-so-great start, we tried to stay positive. Eventually, we made it to the camp and met up with Carolyn and Kiana (the other wilderness expert/guide). Even Carolyn could see how red my hands were, so she took my stuff, let me put my hands into my pockets, and led us into one of the cabins. Again, I was expecting nothing but heat and somewhere comfortable to sit. And again, I was wrong. Instead, I sat on a cold, hard wooden bench while Carolyn explained what our camping experience would consist of, and we ate lunch. Lunch was a cold peanut butter and jelly burrito. Not my idea of a five-star meal, but I was hungry. We continued on. After our hiking packs were set, we walked to find a place to set up camp. That meant we had to put up tents and set up an area where we could have dinner over a fire. During that whole process, I was, as you should already know, cold. And even after Maddie Olson, center, with her WOODS cohort.

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