During the past four summers, I have attended a program called Duke TIP. It lasts for three weeks and there are a variety of classes to pick from. My picks, in order, were: The Creation of Comic Books, Infectious Diseases, Veterinary Medicine, and the Brain (which is about psychology and the functions of the brain). The past three of those four summers, I went to the UGA site for Term 2, which occurs during the last three weeks of July. A lot of people might say that it is a nerd camp, and in a way it is. It is basically a program about taking a college level class for three weeks. But nobody I know ever went for the classes. They go because it is one of the best places on Earth. I will never forget the people I have met there, as they have become a family to me, and I really hope that I get to see all of them again one day. But until then, I can think back and enjoy the many, many amazing memories I have of TIP, and everything I have learned from it. For my first summer at TIP, I went to the Appalachian State site. I wasn’t excited at all. The only reason I went was because my parents were nearly forcing me to go. I thought I would much rather be spending time at home or with my friends. Over the three weeks I was there, I did not particularly enjoy it. However, there were some moments that provided a glimpse of what TIP could be if I really put my heart into it, but I could not have realized that at the moment. It went by in a blur, and I honestly remember almost nothing from it. After it ended, I was still unsure if I wanted to return the next summer. I decided to not return to Appalachian State, and I instead attended UGA Term 2. And oh boy, that was possibly the best decision I have ever made. When I arrived at UGA Term 2 the next summer, I still felt as if I had better things do with my summer, and I was not any more excited than I had been the previous year. My parents and I had driven the two hours to Athens, and we made it to Myers Hall, which is where all the students stayed. I walked in the building and was directed to sign in and get my key to my room and my lanyard. Now, the lanyard that we had to wear is literally just a neon green shoelace, and we had to wear it constantly so the RCs (who were more or less the counselors of the program) and staff would recognize us. First, second, and third years have to wear a neon green shoelace, and fourth years wear an orange one, since it is their last year. The year depends on what grade a person is entering and how many years they have been going to TIP. I was a second year second year, as I was entering 9th grade and I had been going for two years. Little did I know at the time, this meaningless shoelace that I had tied around the back of my neck would soon become very important to me. My parents helped me lug my luggage up to my room, and that’s where I met my second roommate. His name was Jackson, and he was the first person I met at UGA. We chatted and soon became friends. Later that day, I met the rest of my RC group. An RC group is the group that a Tipster spends the most time with. It is made up out of the people who live in the rooms around yours, and it usually has about 10-13 people, plus an RC, who is the group supervisor. Boys live on the second floor of Myers and girls live on the third, and RC groups are made up of either only boys or only girls, and I think it is easy to guess why these rules exist. Anyway, that is when I met Kenny, and we would go on to become very good friends for the next couple of years. That night we had orientation and dinner, and nothing special happened. But at orientation I saw these people who were wearing orange lanyards. At the time, I had no idea what orange meant. At App State, there were no fourth years, only first and second. At UGA, it was second, third, and fourth years. I was fascinated by them, but also very intimidated whenever I was around them. The next day was the first day of class and I was taking Infectious Diseases. During class, we did icebreakers. I was very shy at this age, so I barely talked to students in my class, mostly because they were all third and fourth years. But one of the fourth years was extremely nice. His name was Chris Gregoire, and he was a huge reason why I fell in love with TIP. He showed me that TIP was just one, massive family, and that there really was no other place on Earth like it. He became a huge inspiration to me. Soon, I found out that frisbee was universally loved at TIP, and that was a major reveal to me. I LOVE frisbee, and I do not mean to brag, but I am amazing at it. Everyday during free time, people went out on Myers Quad and just toss a frisbee, so I went out to join. Chris was out there, and he was amazed by my throwing and catching skills. He told me that there was a Student vs. Staff game coming up, and that I might get to play. He was the captain of the students during the game, and this was because he was the holder of the Bora Frisbee. The Bora Frisbee is a tradition, and a tradition is an item or title that is held by a fourth year (although there have been instances of a second and third year having a tradition). Every tradition is passed down on the last night to a person who holder believes deserves the tradition. Each one means something. The Bora Frisbee, for example, goes to the person who is a leader and who the previous holder believes can lead the students to beat the staff in the big game. There is also the Fedora, which goes to a person who embodies the “spirit” of TIP. There are dozens of traditions, and it would take much too long to explain them. The rest of the term was an absolute blast; I made more friends, and I started to become less shy and more extroverted, although I still hadn’t completely outgrown it. I was really hoping that I would get passed down a tradition, preferably a frisbee (at the time there were three different frisbee traditions), but it did not happen. Chris started a new tradition on the last night. He called it the Duo Frisbee, because he and his best friend Sung were the joint captains of the frisbee team and they led the students to a victory over the staff for the first time in eight years. The Duo Frisbee went to a person who displayed the most heart both on and off the field, and skill in frisbee. The holder of the Duo Frisbee also led the team alongside the captain. After those three weeks were over, I couldn’t wait to return the next year as a third year, but I was also distraught that I would not get to see many of the fourth years again. My third year I took Introduction to Veterinary Medicine as my class, and this was the time when I finally outgrew my shyness and started to grow as a person. I finally started to see what TIP actually was and I developed the love for it that I still have today. Chris was not there as he was a fourth year the previous term, but there were others who inspired and helped me. One was a guy named Wilds, who was in my class. At the beginning of the term, I was still very shy and I only talked to the people from my RC group that I had last term. I was hesitant to start talking to new people, but Wilds started talking to me and introduced me to his fourth year friends. This ultimately led me to begin talking to the other third years who I already had known for a year. I had no idea how amazing all of these people were, and I made many more friends my third year who I continuously talk to today. I started in the frisbee game, which was one of my favorite experiences from TIP. The previous game I was too nervous to play much in the game, and I only played for couple minutes. This time I played almost the entire game, along with Savage (his real name is Henry), who was the captain, and Reese, who Chris passed down the Duo Frisbee to, and they told me how they were happy that they were leaving the state of frisbee at TIP in my hands. We barely won 11-9, and celebrating with everyone after making the game winning throw was absolutely exhilarating. Another amazing experience from TIP were the dances. There are three dances, two on both Saturdays, and one on the last Thursday. The themes of the first two dances are usually something like tropical and space, but they change. The final dance is always Prom themed. At these dances, everyone always dances in these huge mosh pits. My first year at UGA I was too nervous to go on the dance floor, and stayed in the room where everybody played board games or cards. But Wilds got me out into the dance floor, and everyone just started jumping along to the music. From then on, I was always around the center of the mosh pit at every dance, jumping until my feet felt like they were falling off. The end of those three weeks was even more heartbreaking than the last term. I had gotten much closer to so many more people, many of whom were leaving for good. Reese passed down the Duo Frisbee to me, and that was possibly one of the proudest moments of my life. I carried that frisbee with me for the rest of that night, and all the way home. This past summer, I attended my fourth and final year at Duke TIP at UGA Term 2, and it was better than my second and third years combined. This was the year that I got to lead the frisbee team along with my friend Robert, who is also one of the coolest/nicest guys I’ve ever met. This was the year I got to wear the orange shoelace with pride, and set an example for all the second and third years. This was the year where all the fourth year boys and girls sang songs to each other at 11 at night for three days straight until our voices broke. This was the year where I had finally won DawgFest, which is basically the TIP version of the Olympics, for the first time in three years. At the dances I moshed until I could barely walk, or even stand. Sadly, we didn’t win the Student vs. Staff game, but I was beyond happy to have played in it the past three years, and satisfied with a 2-1 record. I became even closer with the people I had gotten to know over the past three years, and I met a fantastic girl who I wish I had gotten to know sooner. TIP taught me to not be scared to talk to others, and to always be myself no matter what. It taught how to lead others and how to create a family out of strangers that I lived with for 12 weeks. Not even two months ago, I passed down the Duo Frisbee, continuing the tradition that meant so much to me, and left Myers Hall and my family for the last time wearing a shoelace worth approximately $0 to anyone else, but to me it was worth the world and the memories that I carry along with it.