I have heard over and over again that Shad Valley is a life changing experience. Even though, I came with my doubts, it’s been six days since I landed in Vancouver airport and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Although I struggle with the names, I’ve been able to meet an amazing group of people who share many of the same passions as I. This was a day of preparation for our house projects. We had a speaker in from Oracle to talk about design and problem extrapolation. As a result, from nine in the morning to noon we were in the lecture hall. After we practiced what we had learned by solving a problem about food distribution of food for the homeless - an interesting topic that had a lot of possible results, something that isn’t really discussed the presentations at the end were very interesting, it showed the individuality in our group. The evening was filled with lots of packing for our camping trip tomorrow. The evening was rushed in the sense of needing to find our gear, but after that we spent the rest laughing, playing soccer and using the musical instruments in our dorms. Included in the evenings affairs was laundry. A very difficult task for someone who has never done his own laundry before. Thankfully there were a number of Shads eager to help. It’s amazing how quickly our group of Shads have become friends. Every day we feel more comfortable around each other and build upon our relationships. I can`t wait to look back upon this experience and see how much it influenced me.
Jordan Bertagnolli, Shad Valley University of British Columbia 2010
Hometown: Rocky Mountain House, Alberta
