By Nicole Hudley, HEY Research Intern
This August, I got the amazing opportunity to join HEY’s Emancipated Youth Advocacy Board (EYAB) river rafting for their retreat. I was absolutely overjoyed to be outside in the summer sun, in a beautiful scene of green trees and huge rocks, and of course to engage my entire body in paddling the raft downstream. I have to say, advocacy can be so serious! Many of the interactions I had with the
EYAB members were centered on how we can all improve the emancipation process and the foster care system. But spending the entire day with these wonderful young people was a window into what really drives their success.
With the exception of me, none of us had ever been white water rafting before; mother nature’s roller coaster ride was largely uncharted territory. We all stood the chance of falling out of the boat into the ice cold water. A natural response might be to experience a little anxiety, especially when you consider that not all of us knew how to swim, we wore ridiculously dorky lifejackets, we had a visually impaired passenger join us in the raft, and we had to make due with not dressing appropriately for a potential dunk in the river. But having spent their last retreat indoors, EYAB was determined to have fun.
Not one person complained or held back one bit of enthusiasm. Seeing EYAB display such an exemplary positive, fun-loving, inclusive demeanor was remarkable, but not surprising given what they have already accomplished. In the picture you can see all of us laughing as our raft leader screams threats at the rapid named “Satan’s Cesspool”. Together we conquered the river triumphantly!
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