DAA Class of 24'

This summer Liz worked at Dakota Camps as the programming director. She also drove the boat and jet ski, which was a lot of fun. It was the best summer at camp, and she got to make lots of new friends and reconnect with old ones. She also helped run the camp with the assistant director when her dad was in the hospital for a week during camp. Then she drove to Tennessee for college with her mom, started SmartStart, and took English 101. She did really well in that class and had lots of great discussions. She also got two jobs: one working in the office to assist first-year students and the other position as team leader for the School of Journalism’s social media team. She’s gotten to go to Chattanooga a lot with friends and also had the opportunity to speak for SAU’s English club’s vespers. Overall, it’s been really good, and she is really enjoying college life!

During the summer, Ana took part in her county fair where she won Best In Show for her photography portfolio, as well as Grand for the robot presentation and creative writing, and Reserve for a banner and the robotics portfolio. She also showed her rabbit and got Reserve Champion with her in that division. Her family and a few of her friends also got to go see Breaking Benjamin at the Red River Valley Fair. She spent the rest of her summer working at Handpick’d Boutique in Jamestown and gaming with friends. She also got to see Celeste for a few days, and they visited some of the DAA kids at the camps and totally didn’t get lost on their way. She is currently attending Valley City State University with a major in English and is looking to possibly add a Marketing minor and/or a graphic design certificate. She has enjoyed getting to see what college has to offer so far and even joined the Fisheries Club. She hopes to keep up the motivation she had in high school and learn how to make the most out of her major and degree in the future.

Maddie's summer was packed with many fun memories. She was a full-time nanny. She watched five kids and helped them with showing sheep and cows for their 4H club. She also helped photograph her church’s first-ever VBS program. She continued to do photography in her free time. She is now double majoring in social work and psychology at the University of Sioux Falls. Since moving there, she has discovered that Falls Park is the best spot to study. She also enjoyed group volunteering at a disability center during orientation weekend. She has a part-time job at a faith-based childcare center. There, they support low-income families not only with childcare but also with spiritual and emotional health. Her biggest support through all of this change has been her parents and her church family.

Alyssa started working in a lab in the pharmaceuticals department at NDSU two days after graduation. Over the summer, she worked with pancreatic cancer cells, and at the end of the internship, she presented a poster about the cancer treatment they were working on. Now she has started classes. She’s majoring in biology with a minor in psychology. Math has been a bit tricky, but she’s getting the hang of it and is enjoying all her classes, especially psychology and chemistry. She’s been making friends on campus and is involved with the Christian group on campus called Chi Alpha. There’s a Chi Alpha group at MSUM as well, so sometimes they do joint worships and events. She joined Chi Alpha at MSUM to do a pickleball league with Josh. She misses having a dorm room like she did at DAA, so she hangs out in the game room with her friends to relax and recharge during the day. They’ve enjoyed playing ping pong, pool, and going bowling. Tryouts for the women’s volleyball club are next week, but she’s not sure if she has free time this semester to join a club that will require so much time for practices. She’s going to gather more information about the club before making a decision, but she hopes to be able to play volleyball again soon.

This summer Chris went to Oregon for a Maranatha project and got a job at Lawn King. Now he is getting his truck ready for a transmission swap and planning on going to a car show.

During the summer, Celeste worked for her grandpa on his cattle farm. She was able to take some time off that she needed to go fishing and see friends. She volunteered at Corman Park Vet Clinic for a week and was able to get some hands-on experience in the back helping with surgeries, and up front dealing with patients. She was able to go offsite and help with both big and small animals. She went to the International Pathfinder Camporee in Gillette, Wyoming, and saw some friends. It was quite an experience with the storms, but still lots of fun doing honors and different activities. She went to a couple of cattle shows and horse shows this summer as well. Joey, her horse, and she won their very first buckle at the Get Back At Er’ gymkhana in Vanscoy. She is currently attending Burman University, the Adventist university in Lacombe, Alberta. She is taking a 3-year biology program in hopes of getting into vet school later on so she can become a vet for both large and small animals.

After graduating, MiKayla decided to take a gap year. She spent her third summer working as kitchen staff at Dakota Camps. The camp staff enjoyed amazing outings to Mount Rushmore and Sylvan Lake/Custer State Park, which created a lot of great and long-lasting memories. Following camp, she attended the camporee in Wyoming and reconnected with some classmates. She also got to see Mrs. Nelson! After the camporee, she moved to Ohio to be closer to friends in the neighboring states and to be closer to some family. She is sharing an apartment with one of her cousins and her cousin’s best friend. She will be visiting her best friend in Pennsylvania soon!