From foreigners to friends in just a few days

I was scared. Spending eight days with 35 Washington high school students I don't know, in a state I'd never set foot in, was rather intimidating.

And it was even more of a stretch to imagine spending four of those days with approximately 1,500 leadership kids from all over the country. My mind couldn't quite grasp the idea, but I got on the plane anyway.

Earlier this summer, I attended the 72nd annual National Association of Student Councils Conference at Northwest High School in Fort Worth, Texas. And like representatives from several other states, our five adult advisers decided to take the Washington state delegation on a preconference tour that began in San Antonio.

Many of us were among strangers at the beginning of the week. But it didn't stay that way for long. In fact, I knew all 35 names by 10 p.m. that first night.

All of the students hold various leadership positions at their schools. Several are also members of the 2008-2009 Washington Association of Student Councils board.

The first full two days of the trip consisted of tours. We visited the Alamo in San Antonio, the capitol building in Austin, and The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas.

Of course, that's not to mention all the hours spent on a charter bus that often doubled as a karaoke stage, dinner at The Salt Lick Barbecue Restaurant in the middle-of-nowhere-Texas, and the universal we're-being-invaded-by-teenagers look that instantly appeared on the faces of people who weren't prepared to share their hotels with nearly 40 highly excitable high school students.

We had bonded, sufficiently forgot about life before Texas, and were ready to enter Northwest High School as one strong, matching unit. And, yes, I do mean matching.

A tradition at NASC is that participants from each state wear a different shirt each day of the conference that says something about themselves. The hands-down favorite shirt of the four we were given was a black T-shirt that read "We Make It Rain" on the back, accompanied by an umbrella hat.

What was most incredible to me, however, was that in those first two days I really did bond with these kids like I had never bonded with leadership kids anywhere else. I had adapted to a new physical and figurative climate. And I had learned I was perfectly capable of surviving in the world without the padding of close friends.

This discovery carried through to the conference itself. The idea-sharing that started among the Washington state kids expanded tremendously as we met student leaders from all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and Canada.

Approximately 1,500 of us spent four days attending workshops, getting CPR training, and listening to a showcase of guest speakers. Though we were perpetually moving from activity to activity, we had no shortage of fun. Two of our evening activities were trips to theme parks: NRH20 Family Water Park one night, Six Flags Over Texas the next.

All the while, my initial discovery only strengthened. And as the conference went on, I realized why this discovery was so important. NASC was doing more than planting leadership ideas for me to carry home to Yakima, it was preparing me for college.

The thought of being separated from my best friends and having to start anew is one that has always terrified my subconscious. While this trip to Texas did not lessen my attachment to those friends, it taught me that I would be OK in a foreign place and that I could put myself out there and make new -- and equally as important -- bonds.

It was an unexpected, and therefore all the more welcome, relief.

* Alyssa Patrick attends Eisenhower High School.

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