Ode
to Umar
12.10.02
WildLink
intern Umar Abdullah is leaving the Yosemite
community shortly, returning to his home in
Detroit in less than a week. As a person that
has worked closely with Umar, I can say he will
be missed, and by more people than just myself.
You've
got to have respect for an 18 year-old that
can just pack his bags and move out to California
for four months. From what I've observed, Umar
has adapted to life here quite well, considering
he's a few years younger than most of the people
that live here and he's from a large city. He's
bonded with a lot of the YI instructors that
he has shadowed and we've had some fun chatting
it up as well.
It
has been great for me to watch his teaching
skills improve over the past few months and
I can say that he's definitely been an asset
in pre-trip recruiting meetings. Umar has assured
potential students that no bears will eat them,
that the food is indeed, tasty, in addition
to being living proof that the WildLink is a
good experience. The fact that we have "alumni"
returning (especially all the way from Detroit)
signifies that the program is pretty amazing.
