“I’ve grown more confident and learned more about myself”: Aravis’ Story

Joining Unbound was a significant life change for me, but so far, it has been one of the best things I have done regarding education, community, and most importantly, preparing for life in this world. 

Coming up on my senior year, I had been expecting a change soon since I was getting ready to finish high school and was looking into what I would do for college and a career. My parents and I had been discussing different programs and curriculums over the summer for my education plan. One day in mid July, while I was working at summer camp, I got a call from my parents. They said they had a new idea for school for next year. I was really curious, excited, and nervous at what it could be. I expected it would maybe be a new curriculum they had found, and I was afraid it would be public school. I was also kind of afraid that I would be going to go to college a year early, which would be a big commitment that I was not ready to jump into yet. You can imagine how my curiosity and excitement intensified when my mom sent me information about Unbound’s Ascend program. We looked into it when I got home and I discovered it was an amazing post-high school education program. It sounded 100x better than any college I had looked at thus far. I did not know how right I would be…

I was a little intimidated by the idea of doing all my school online and what that would be like. I was excited to see what I would learn and accepted the challenge knowing it would be a great growing experience for me. As an outgoing person who really loves to spend time outside doing things with people, and a person who is strongly drawn to tangible and practical activities, I did not see doing stuff on screens as something worth spending hours of time doing, or doing school on my computer as a beneficial way of spending my time. Even after the first week and as the first semester went on, I soon found that I would not have to worry about that and could disregard that fear because, one, I loved all the things I was learning; two, I loved that doing the classes, calls, etc. online allowed me to stay connected with the community; three, I found that I did not spend as much time on my computer as I thought I would; and four, the practical application to what we were learning and the hands on projects were so worth it!

Enrolling in Ascend would mean starting something completely new and completely different from what I had done before, and though I had some fears, I knew it would be perfect for me. My excitement overpowered all my fears. I could not wait to join this amazing program and go to APEX. To me, it sounded like it would be the best program I could do and the best event I had ever been to. I knew it was going to be a blast. Barely a week after I got home from the summer camp where I was working, I was thrilled to find that I was going to be traveling across the US in less than two weeks to meet this amazing Ascend community and learn so many things about life at APEX. (Though I was a little nervous to be in an airport by myself, to travel out of state, and to see over a hundred people I had never met before.) I love traveling and seeing new places, and I was not afraid of joining the new community, because I knew it would also be very similar in some ways to the homeschool community that I was used to. I was extremely excited, because, as an extrovert and a people person, one of my favorite ways to spend my time is doing activities with people. I love going to large events because I get to meet new people, make new friends, do what I love (playing games with people), and just hang out. 

The events were awesome. It was wonderful to get to meet and do activities with so many new people and make so many new friends. I played games, competed in challenges with an amazing new team, had deep discussions, and learned incredible things. I was surprised and inspired by the amazing speakers I heard from and the way that God spoke to me through their messages, the discussions, the people I met, and the Unbound program in general. I was going through a hard time, dealing with the stress of transitioning from the world I had known in high school to a completely unknown future out in the real world and trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. I was excited that I was actually learning useful, practical, and applicable information that was also taught from a Christian perspective, which is not very popular in the higher education system.  

One amazing thing that stuck out to me, right away, about the Ascend community is people are so close and can relate to each other so well because they have similar values and backgrounds. Even on the bus ride on day one of APEX, I was already jumping into deep conversations with students. It was surprising how comfortable we were to talk about random topics even though we had just met each other. This was exciting for me because it is rare to find communities like that. There is just something special about that connection when you bring a bunch of Christian young adults together to learn practical life skills. It was also interesting to see how comfortable people were in these group settings. At the airport, on the bus, and even as soon as we arrived at the venue, people were talking and playing games, laughing and having so much fun. Everyone was super excited to be there. It was fascinating to see how we interacted with each other as if we had known each other our whole lives, and those who already knew each other met up as if no time had passed since they had last seen each other. That shows how incredible the strong relationships people can keep over long distances really are. 

I was so excited because the events were what I imagined they would be and so much more! I connected really well with the community. I truly saw for myself and experienced that there were people in the world, in my life, that were just like me. Even on day one, I saw that I had so many things in common with people in the Ascend community. It was so encouraging to me. As a homeschooler, I had tried to find communities that I fit in well with, that I felt comfortable in, that were Christians with much the same values I had, and cared for each other. The Ascend community was all that and more. 

I saw this even more strongly in my Ascend team. I was nervous at first to meet my ATL (Ascend Team Leader), my team, and the Ascend community, but when I met them I was relieved and happy to find a group of people I resonated with, and yet we were all unique in our own way. It was amazing to see, as time went on how we learned to work together with our various personalities. I have had so much fun with them. It is amazing to see how we each have grown through our experiences together, and to see how we each seek to help each other out. One of my favorite things about joining the Unbound community is seeing how the Christian values we have impact our actions toward each other, and to see how much everyone cares about each other and are eager to hear how they are doing. Another strong aspect of the Unbound community that I have seen is people being extraordinary at ordinary. One example of this is prayer. It’s amazing how everyone comes together to pray for each other in ordinary everyday conversations. That is just beautiful.

Overall, through Ascend I have grown more confident in the values I hold and have learned a lot about myself. I was really encouraged that there was a whole community of people from all over the country and all over the world that held much the same values as me, that lived the truth of the Bible out in their lives. It opened my eyes more to how big the body of Christ is around the world and inspired me to more boldly live for the Gospel wherever I go in my life everyday. It also encouraged me that though so much evil is in this world and so many bad things are happening in our culture, there are still communities who have hope in Christ, and hold fast to their faith. 

I am so blessed to be a part of Ascend, a community where people love God, are hungry for the Gospel, hold to the Truths in the Bible, see the world from a Christian perspective, value relationships, are curious, and ask deep questions about life. They also have a desire to live extraordinary at ordinary, live differently than the rest of the world, and pull away from the river of normal that the majority of people are floating in, and seek to live every day to the fullest for God’s glory.

Want to learn more about Ascend and see if it’s the right fit for your student? Schedule a call with the Unbound team today!