Hello, my name is...

Why, hello there! My name is Lauren Gilbert. I am currently 15 (and sadly cannot drive... legally, that is), but will be turning 16 in the near future. I have lived in Lexington for most of my life, and must admit that until more recently, I only ever thought of leaving this town. Now, as the time quickly approaches to when I'll actually have the chance to leave, I am just beginning to learn to love it more and more. My goals for this year are extremely general (get good grades, do well on AP tests, have fun, etc), but I await for them to become more specific as the year progresses.

While I am an avid fan of photography, I must say that my true passion lies in helping others. Although I do not have the time to volunteer as much as I wish, I truly enjoy giving my time to others - knowing I am making a positive difference in their lives or the lives of others around time. That brings me to the most meaningful part of my summer. This summer I travelled to Clinton, TN where I participated in a program called Reach Workcamps rebuilding and repairing homes for "neighbors" in the community. Being able to see the impact we had was fantastic - not to mention all of the new friends I met there. I plan to go back to Reach for my fourth consecutive year next summer when we will travel to Sylacauga, AL. Only 290 more days! Or 9 months and 17 days, depending on how you count it. (I'm just a little bit excited, if you couldn't tell...).

To be completely honest, what truly geeks me out are foreign languages. My parents started me in the Spanish Immersion Program in kindergarten and I have taken Spanish since. This year will be my first year without a Spanish class since I started school 11 years ago... I already feel deprived. So, as an alternative, I plan to volunteer at Maxwell St. Legal Clinic as a translator (helping people AND foreign language?! It's a dream come true!). Striving to learn many languages has been a goal for myself my entire life. Although I would consider myself mostly bilingual, I do not think that's enough - not for me, so I am pushing myself to learn more. Currently, I am working on sign language and am thinking of starting Mandarin Chinese. While I want to be fluent in the two previous languages, I also would like to have a grip on French, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, and Russian. I know, it's alot.

Loving photography, I enjoy this website very much: http://dearphotograph.com/ When I scroll through the pictures daily, I often ponder the stories behind the moment in time captured in each picture. For the most part, this is a hopeless effort, but I must say, I do imagine up some very creative stories when I am truly stumped!

I could not pick just one picture, so here are three:

The picture to the right is of my workcrew. We started the week as complete strangers and by the end, not only were we great friends, but we'd also successfully built the ramp which we are standing on (along with some other things).

This picture was taken at Burnamwood, a camp I attended this summer. You see there a prime example of the creativity put into the photographs taken that week.

 

 

 

 

All in all, my summer has been a splash. Literally. 

I very much hope this school year will be as well!