Join an Aspire participant on his journey in Jackson Hole Wyoming as part of the Aspiration Summit. He sets aside all of his fears to soak in the beauty of the wilderness and builds connections with people ready to support his incredible experience.

Aspire Summit photoBy Owen Nowen, Aspiration Summit participant

At 5:00 am, unloading my bag from the car at Logan Airport, I wondered and worried about my signing up for the 2018 Aspiration Summit- what was some never-been-west-of-Mississippi suburbanite doing, thinking he was going to go ride a horse and hike out in Wyoming? Living at home and going to college was already difficult enough- why choose to fly halfway across the country to a place I’ve never seen?

6:00 AM, Mountain Standard time. Sunday September 9th, 2018.  My cell phone alarm halfway across the room goes off, and I rise.  Fully adjusted to the two-hour difference in time zones and wishing that I didn’t have to go home today, I stumble over to the offending device and hit the “off” button on the alarm.  The day and night before, I had conversed with Tony Aquila, CEO of Solera Holdings, ridden a horse named Charlie Brown through the tree-speckled plains of Wyoming, and pointed out planets and constellations alongside the most amazing group of people I’d met in a very long time.  At 1:30 PM, I would board a plane back to the familiar, but I didn’t want to return to Marblehead.  And after the week I had experienced, who would blame me?

A month later, I sit in the common area at North Shore Community College in Lynn and reflect on how lucky I was to be chosen as part of the 2018 Aspiration Summit. The experience in Jackson and the people I got to share it with undoubtedly changed me for the better.  I would recommend it to absolutely anyone seeking to add more positivity, courage and social connections to their life.