Emily was born and raised in the Granite State, and has pursued interests in public health, social justice, and outdoor adventure. She is thrilled to finish the trail this summer and attend medical school this fall. avid climber, hiker and outdoorsman. He has a passion for education – both in and out of the classroom – and will be earning his masters in high school education next year through the MATCH program in Boston.

Sam is an avid climber, hiker and outdoorsman. He has a passion for education – both in and out of the classroom – and will be earning his masters in high school education next year through the MATCH program in Boston.

In spring of 2010 Sam and Emily set forth on a shared dream – hiking up the east coast from Georgia to Maine along the Appalachian Trail. After 1,550 fun and challenging miles they reached New England. At the Connecticut border they made the difficult decision to leave the trail to be with Emily’s father whose health was failing. He died three weeks later.

With school, work, and other obligations filling their schedules, getting back to that spot in Connecticut to continue their trek northward proved harder than expected. Now, four years later, with a generous donation from the Flyin’ Ryan Foundation, Emily and Sam will be picking up where they left off.

UPDATE:

I’m doing great – Flyin’ Ryan helped make the summer before I started medical school totally awesome although not what I expected. Sam and I were able to get back to the trail, but an old injury of his started acting up. We decided to switch to biking, which relieved his pain and had us doing something we hadn’t done before! We biked from Burlington to Chicago, and took a mini trip up to the northern peninsula of Michigan where we biked some more. On the trip we touched every single great lake!

Now Sam is a teacher outside of Boston, and I’m in my clinical clerkship years at UVM College of Medicine. We’ve since split romantically, but together are so grateful for the scholarship that made our trip possible. We have many wonderful memories.