Hi! My name is Ashtyn Baker and I am a freshman on the team
this year. I am from Nesbit, Mississippi, so going from a flat landscape to the
mountains was awesome. I absolutely love the mountains here.
When I first got
to Liberty, I was definitely nervous and did not know anyone besides the coaches. But
after meeting Bridgette and Apilyn during Summer Bridge, I shortly had two new best friends.
Besides
working out and going to class, we had a lot of fun doing tons of different
things this summer. One of my favorite things we did was when we went cliff
jumping (we made sure it was safe first). It was super scary, but once I jumped off the first time it was easy to do it again. Some of the people we went with were doing front and back flips but I wasn’t THAT brave. At
the very end of that day it started pouring rain and we had to run all the way
back to our cars and were soaking wet when we got there.
Another adventure we went on this summer was climbing Sharp
Top Mountain. We went in the afternoon to watch the sunset from the top of the
mountain. It took about 45 minutes for us to hike to the top, but that was with no
stops, a lot of sweat, and burning legs. After getting to the top, the view was
breathtaking - and watching the sunset over the valley was even better. It made us
appreciate God’s creation and be thankful that He took His time to make nature a
beautiful thing. After we finished watching the sunset we had to walk down the
mountain in the pitch black. It was scary to look behind ourselves, because
all we could see was blackness, but our flashlights helped us make it down the mountain safely.
Those were only a few of our adventures. We also did a ton of other things like going to the lake, going
kayaking, and visiting the horses at the equestrian center.
This summer was one of my favorites so far and I look forward to the next few summers with my new teammates!
Thanks for reading!!
-Ashtyn Baker, #12
