For my GOALS Project for my second semester, I am participating in the Everglades National Park Sea Kayaking trip. For the trip, I will travel to the Everglades over spring break with seven other students and the leaders of the trip in order to spend six days in the everglades. We will camp on the beaches of the everglades and kayak in the sea and the wetlands everyday. This trip will include in-depth instructions on how to safely sea kayak, leave no trace camping, and we will learn about the many estuaries and mangroves with the Everglades. From this trip, I hope to gain a more meaningful connection to nature. I have never done a trip this physically intensive before so it will be a whole new type of challenge for me. I hope to get more in shape before we leave for the trip so that I feel more prepared for the physical intensity. I know this trip will challenge me in a physical way because of the strength that I will need to get through it as well as the perseverance I will need to work through the heat, the bugs, and not being clean for days on end. I have also never explored a national park, so this will be a wonderful first experience. The Everglades were first made a national park not because of overall beauty, even though they are beautiful and valuable, but because of the large amount of biodiversity in the area. This is my favorite thing about the Everglades so far because I want to learn as much about biodiversity as I can so immersing myself in the ecosystem will be such an incredible learning opportunity. I also hope to be more confident going on a more extreme type of excursion so that I can continue to do more diverse types of outdoor adventure.