Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Posted: 10:00 AM(CDT)
A Norman teen is about to head off on the adventure of a lifetime.
A photograph and essay by 13-year old Leah Dile has earned her a place on the first-ever National Geographic Kids Expedition Team.
A few months back Leah entered an essay contest in National Geographic Kids magazine. She wrote her essay, “Exploring…A Word That Means Many Things,” and attached a picture she took while walking in local park.
In January, Leah found out she had been chosen as one of 15 finalists --six boys and nine girls-- from across the country to take part in an expedition to the Galapagos Islands.
A spokeswoman from the National Geographic Society says, “The team was formed as part of National Geographic’s Everyday Explorer Challenge. The goal is to provide a fun, experiential learning program that motivates middle schoolers to get out and explore the world around them.”
Leah and her dad leave May 13, and will return May 22.
Here are some of Leah’s other photographs, and the essay she entered in the contest.
Exploring…
A Word That Means Many Things
By Leah Dile
Exploring, creating, experience. These things are inseparable. To me they all mean the same thing, 
grab the camera. Instead of charts, I have a lens. Instead of a compass, I have a viewfinder.
As I look through my viewfinder, a whole new world comes to life. I squeeze the shutter button. Click, a small part of that world has been captured.
The breeze blows as I walk slowly through my neighborhood. A gray cat, with eyes the color of the grass, is slowly stalking through the grass. A dragonfly lands on my finger, but I must hold still. This is how I explore, by capturing the simple beauty, and taking long walks. My camera is my guide.
This picture seems like it’s own adventure. As I exhaled and squeezed the shutter button, only expecting to see three simple flowers, a small bee flew from the flower, making this picture become a memory.
This is my favorite moment of my exploration. Because when something small changes the way you look at things, it proves that by searching and looking for one thing, the fun of it is finding something else.
