Michael

Michael is super cool but lives really far away. He lives in Chicago. I hope he makes CIT so he can come back to Iowa and we see him again soon. He was always a good, mild-tempered LIT that held together the group and was tolerant and patient. In his last week of LIT, he was assigned to work out in the horse stables. It’s a job that a bad LIT complains about all week, because it smells, it’s hot, and you are constantly in the sun, swarmed by flies. Michael was an outstanding LIT, and managed to take full advantage of his time out there with the horses. He took care of the horses, carefully taught kids how to ride a horse and took a lot of campers on their first ever horse ride. He was patient, and he sat in the heat everyday, ignoring the flies and making the most of a job that is usually dreadfully dull. There’s a story to go with Michael. He stepped up to the plate near the end of our time at camp, when there was a horseback riding emergency.

It was a sunny afternoon, our last week at Camp Wapsie, and us LITs had a free afternoon. We had asked our director if we could ride horses that day. I’d never ridden a horse before, and didn’t really want to at first, but decided to try it. Michael helped everyone pick out a horse and set us up with helmets and gear to ride. He taught us how to mount a horse and helped us all start to learn, since most of us hadn’t ridden before. We rode around the corral for a bit, and then the horse caretaker had Michael lead us out of the corral to trot around camp a bit. Everyone plodded along after Michael on his horse. It was sticky and hot, but we were enjoying ourselves. And then Luke got kicked. His horse got to close to the horse in front of him, and Luke got a hoof to the leg. In the moment, Luke’s face drained of all color and he looked like he was going to pass out. His leg was bleeding, and the impact of the kick had put him in a shock. He was still on his horse and dazed, unaware that his leg was gushing blood. The rest of us were trying to figure out what was going on, and Michael took charge. He helped Luke off his horse, and Luke was limped off to the clinic, held upright by our LIT director and the horse caretaker, leaving Michael in charge. Michael led all the LITs and our horses back to the corral and we tied up all the horses and put away gear. What followed was an afternoon of nervous waiting. Luke had to go to the hospital to make sure he didn’t have any broken bones and didn’t need stitches. We sat in a circle in the patch of shade by the corral and we waited and discussed what to do. Our LIT director had left with Luke, and no one told us what to do. We worried for Luke, but Michael, being the one with the most knowledge of horses present, reassured us he would be okay and told us it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Michael showed leadership when we most needed it, and held our group together.

He’s also just a cool guy and I hope he makes CIT because he made us all laugh and is really good at boosting the mood in any situation.

Stay awesome, Michael.

Claire

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