Day 5: Future

We closed off the week with a long surf and then some hiking at Cabrillo National Monument. I still can’t believe thisweek is already over! I am exhausted, ready for a weekend of sleep, and have successfully sprained my toe..but I still couldn’t be happier. The students have learned to surf, enjoyed serving the San Diego community, and become a close-knit support groupfor each other. All in all, I would say week 1: Surf N’ Serve was a success. Here is a quote from astudent about her experience: (more quotes will be coming later this week) Hope you have enjoyed the blog and thank you to everyone for their support! I couldn’t have made this possible without all your love, generosity, and kind thoughts.

Now onto week 2…..wish me luck!- Juliana

Kelly M: “Surf N' Serve meant a lot for me. I was able to try something new with surfing and help out my community. I had never been so tired at the end of a day but it was all worth it. I will remember this experience for the rest of my life and will continue surfing because I had never enjoyed or been so determined to ride a wave before. I am really sad it is over but glad I got the opportunity to do this.”

Madeleine K: Surf N' Serve is one of the greatest programs I have participated in. I have found a sport that I am truly passionate about, I don't think I can go another day without surfing. I also came to a realization that volunteer work can be a lot of fun we had the opportunity to help out the community, learn about our projects, and about one another too.

Day 4: Effort

As the fourth day of camp, today was one of the best days. Ms. Biersbach came out to the ocean and we all made sure we caught some good waves. After all the practice we have done all week we were finally able to get up and stand up on our own. It felt great to do this because all week we relied on our surf instructors, but not anymore we are real surfers now. Being the great surf teachers they are Kiley and Seamus taught us about the ocean's fetch, winds both onshore and offshore, and that the best kinds of waves have a wider frequency between one another. It was just a great day for surfing and the waves were beautiful.

The word of the day was effort. We definitely used a lot of effort to complete our volunteer work. We went to Mission Trails and worked with Ranger Mel. Our job was to tear open and spread out gravel bags alined on the street to prevent streams of rain from crushing plants and debris traveling to the rivers. It was a hot day, we were fully covered with sunscreen,

shades, and hats. Like always we had a friendly competition between teams. Each team worked on a road side and the first to finish the bags won slurpees. All of us were fatigued from a great morning of surfing but regardless how tired we were, both teams put in a lot of effort to make the roads better. We all won and earned our slurpees, we really enjoyed them on the car ride home. As the camp comes closer to an end it's great to see how close we have grown to each other, how much we, our surfing improvemnts, and the difference we can make in our community.

Madeleine K, class of 2012

Day 3: Determination

Today was Wednesday and it’s the third day of Surf N’ Serve. The word of the day was determination, which helped us to try harder facing the waves and actually surfing for at least a few seconds. It was a very SPECIAL day because we had an amazing person surfing with us in the water. It was Ms. Biersbach! It was so weird watching our Preuss teacher surf and sometimes even struggle like us because sometimes students see teachers as aliens without a life haha. With Ms. Biersbach by our side, we were ALL able to stand on the surf board many times. Surfing has been a challenge for the past three days but we have also been able to show that we are strong girls.

After taking a quick wash we headed to Imperial Beach to clean a State park near the border of Tijuana. At first we were exhausted from all of the surfing we had done in the morning. But then when we arrived at the State Park, we became energetic and worked hard to get rid of all of the weeds. When it was time to leave we didn't even want to.Even on our walk back to the car we would see weeds and and pick them. This day was just great because of Ms. Biersbach and because today's

community service was the best!

Karla C., Class of 2012

Day 2 "Challenge"

Today was day two. After day one we are all exhausted and sore from surfing and volunteering at the New Children's Museum. But the word of the day was challenge, so we toughened up and got in the water. After a while, we were to busy battling the waves and playing octopus tag that we forgot about our aching bodies. We all have improved a lot from day one and were able to catch good waves and stand up on the boards. We even made new friends along the way at the surf camp.

Afterwards we got ready to volunteer cleaning the beaches. We got to fiesta island and that beach was pretty clean, so instead we left to the bay and pacific beach to clean up more trash. We even found a way to make cleaning up the beach fun by making it a competition. We would run and fight each other for pieces of trash. After filling our trash bags, we ended the day by sitting at the beach for a well deserved break from a long day of work.

Kelly M, class of 2012

Day 1 "Attitude"

Today was Monday and it was the first day of Surf n’ Serve. The word of the day was attitude, which helped us keep positive no matter how many times we fell off the waves. It was a very fun day and even when we fell we all enjoyed every second. We were so scared when we arrived at the surf shop. We did not know what to expect on this new experience. We tried on our wet suits and then got ready to head off to the beach. It was cold at first but after a while we got used to the water and even caught some waves.

When we were done surfing we went to the New Children’s Museum Downtown.
When we arrived the place was so big with so many amazing art pieces. We helped
to cut out shapes and set up stations for the kids arts and crafts projects.
It was really a fun bonding experience and we even got to check out the museum before we left.
-Brenda T, Class of 2014