Darren Palmer \u201910 relies on a cocktail of tenacity and confidence he believes was fostered during his time at Trinity-Pawling. \u201cThe mentality of \u2018I need to eliminate the things I don\u2019t need to focus on right now\u2019 is a pure representation of determination,\u201d he says. Palmer\u2019s fortitude was put to the test when he broke his wrist during his freshman year, but was still required to go to hockey practice. \u201cI couldn\u2019t play, but I\u2019d skate. During games I ran the clock. My senior year, I coached fourth soccer.\u201d But Palmer also appreciated the many mentors he had at Trinity-Pawling that kept checking in with him and kept him on track. \u201cWhen I was able to push through those difficult times, I knew I could push through whatever would be placed in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a concussion sustained during a lacrosse game forced Palmer to once again redirect his participation during his first year in college, he drew on the strength he gained from his experience at Trinity-Pawling. Instead of dropping out altogether, he found new ways to be involved in the things he loved\u2014filming lacrosse games, attending games in other sports, even becoming Alfred University\u2019s first mascot. \u201cThat mentality of sticking with the team just transferred with me to college.\u201d He graduated from Alfred in 2014 with a Saxon 6 Award, an accolade given to the six most influential seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his time at Trinity-Pawling he was inspired by faculty members\u2019 stories of backpacking adventures, sailing, fishing in Alaska, and also his own experiences doing ropes course adventures as a junior. \u201cThat experience with friends in the outdoors made me want to continue to make memories like that,\u201d Palmer recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Done with school but not yet done with challenges, Palmer set his sights on completing the grueling 2200 mile Appalachian Trail. He was attracted to the simplicity of life on the trail. \u201cWake up, eat, walk, eat, sleep, repeat,\u201d he says. Over the course of the trail he experienced both physical changes, losing almost twenty pounds and gaining a shoe size, and spiritual growth as well. \u201cI learned to talk to myself the way I want others to. I became my own best friend.\u201d Meeting hundreds of people from all over the world, Palmer was encouraged to become more open and trusting. \u201cThere is a primal connection we get from conversing with people through stories and thoughts,\u201d he explains. \u201cI hitchhiked into towns with complete strangers and heard some of the most interesting stories. I hiked with soldiers, amputees, a blind man, and a few dogs. Everyone added to my journey to paint such a beautiful memory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
by Lisa M. Kelsey<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Darren Palmer \u201910 relies on a cocktail of tenacity and confidence he believes was fostered during his time at Trinity-Pawling. \u201cThe mentality of \u2018I need to eliminate the things I don\u2019t need to focus on right now\u2019 is a pure representation of determination,\u201d he says. Palmer\u2019s fortitude was put to the test when he broke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-december-2018"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"ON THE JOURNEY OF LIFE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2430"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2528,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions\/2528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trinitypawlingthequad.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}