Future Plans

My dream is to graduate from ECA, and join West Point Military Academy for 5 years. At West Point, I want to build leadership skills and show people that I can lead as a U.S army Officer. I want to join the Army Football team and join the Golden Knights Skydive team as well. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I want to become a skydiving instructor. I want to be the top of my team, and show my friends, family members and teachers that I can become a Military officer. I know that the first years at West Point will be very harsh, because the instructors push you to the limit; I think I’ll be ready for anything because I have grown up in a Military family that pushed me and helped me reach my goals.   

My vision is to graduate West Point, and become an Infantry soldier. I would like to become Airborne and be stationed in Fort Benning Georgia, because as a child I loved that place. Later I would like to start a family when I’m 26 years old; by the time I’m 30 I would like to have 3 children. If they ever call me to go to war, I would never deny it, because I would offer my allegiance to the United States of America to always serve and protect it.  

Family for me is very significant, because it’s what unites people. As I said before, I was always around military men. My dad was very strict with academics and doing chores. I believe this could help me with my goals at West Point because I could be mentally and physically solid and effective. I plan on getting the rank of a one star General and at the end of my carrier I would like… TO BE CONTIUNED.  

Christmas Plans

This Christmas my family and I are going to Panama for 3 weeks, it has been about four years since the whole family goes to Panama together. We are planning to go on the 17^th of December. When we arrive to Panama I would like to do many things like surf, hang out with my family and then with my best friends, I would also like to go to the beach, shop around the malls, I would even like to help my grandfather’s with the business he is starting.

                My cousins from Florida will arrive two days before me; they can show me all the cool things they have done without me. My best friend Donovan is the coolest guy, we have a lot of things in common like surfing, skateboarding, he does street and I do gravity in the skateboard discipline. These are only a few but very important things that Donovan and I have in common. I hope that in Panama we see each other a lot, but anyways, the most important thing I want to do in Panama is spend quality time with the family; help my grandmother cook around Christmas Eve and wrap presents for my little brother and cousins.

                After sharing and spending quality time with my family, Donovan and I are going to hit some of the best surfing spots in Panama like Playa Teta, Playa Malibu, and Playa Palmera. In Playa Palmera I want to camp at the beach, wake up and surf for 3 days nonstop, it would be the best experience ever. Once my fun is over I want to have some quality time with my cousins, they are two girls and in my whole life I haven’t been too close to them, I feel that I want to get to know them better. But then again they are my cousins and I need to get to know them so in the future we can have a close relationship as a family.

                Things I plan to do with them will probably include play games, sports like soccer because I always knew that Elena was really good at it, and a lot more. All in all I plan to just have a great time with family members and friends. 

Free Falling

Skydiving in Panama,

When I grow up my hobby is to go around the world, especially Panama and jump out of airplanes. Why do I want to pick this as my hobby? Because I like the acrobatics that the skydivers do during the overwhelming sensation of free fall and because of the adrenaline rush they feel when they are about to exit the aircraft.

As a small child my father would come home and start packing his parachute for his daily jumps for the U.S Army; he would always put some skydiving videos so I could watch them with him. When I started crawling as a young baby I would copy the same moves that the skydivers did on the videos. The main move I practiced was the “arch” and I would never stop doing it. The “arch” is the most important position for a safe and stable free fall flight of our bodies.

The closest I have ever been to skydiving is flying in the wind tunnel in North Carolina when I was 12 years old. My father took me with my cousins, we had to take a safety test and learn the cool moves skydivers did. When it was my turn up in the wind tunnel I threw my body in how the instructor told me to and meanwhile he held on me. I would float up inside the tunnel with him, I was in the tunnel for at least 15 min. When I got out I felt like a bird. The wind tunnel has been one of the best experiences of my life.

Like I said before, I want to become a skydiver and have at least 1,000 jumps and after that I want to become an instructor and teach young teenagers how to jump safely. As I grow older I know I’ll get much more anxious to skydive, but before I die I want to skydive with my tutor and friend Alex Hamilton who is a skydiver himself. Blue skies!

(Mathew Jenkins)