June 20, 2017 – Las Vegas – 0 miles
Today we were lucky enough to go on a frienship to a water park on the outskirts of Las Vegas called Wet ‘n’ Wild. My teammates and I were paired up with buddies that were apart of the City of Las Vegas Adaptive Recreation summer camp.
Griffin Engle and I were paired up with a 6 year old named Julian. Julian has a common form of Autism that has affected his ability to communicate verbally. At first he was shy when he was spending time with us and seemed like he wanted to go do his own thing. As time went on through the day, he developed a comfort level with us and would never leave our side wherever we went. We ended up spending a lot of time in the wave pool and brought him on what I think was his first water ride. He was nervous and excited but I got to be apart of that memory for him which I think is pretty cool.
You never know how much you impact these amazing peoples lives until you have to leave. When I was wishing Julian goodbye he fought to not let me go. I think its pretty incredible that we have the opportunity to touch these people’s lives throughout our journey across the United States.
Ross Ranelli
University of Colorado Boulder – Eta Gamma