With our last days on the ranch winding down, it's clear to me how deeply the students have impacted each other. They're all glowing with the new found friendships they've formed in the past 10 days. Not only have they been challenged to look inside themselves and find new feelings, emotions and ideas, but they've been challenged to do so with one another. Their collective soul searching has led to profound connections with one another and an evident emotional growth in each and every returner.
I love watching these returners grow as people, but my favorite part about this trip has been seeing the returners find new and more creative ways of expressing themselves. In only 10 days, I've been moved by more of your returners' poems, drawings and songs than any other artists' in the past 5 years. I'm incredibly grateful and humbled to have shared the same ranch as these amazing young adults, and I can't wait to see how they continue to grow and express themselves in the future.
- Ned Durrett, ELE from Los Angeles
