"Through the Storm" by Alex, 17 | Everglades National Park

What do you think of when you look at a rainbow? Throughout my life I’ve gone through many though times. One day I saw a rainbow and I made the realization; to see the rainbow you have to get through the storm. I needed the reminder that even though I was going through rough times, it wasn’t going to last. Everyone needs to understand this because everyone has tough times and everyone wants to get to the rainbow.

About Alex: "My name is Alexandra. I’m from Central Wisconsin. I was brought to Prairieview because I was using drugs and running away. I faced many challenges while at Northwest Passage including finding the motivation to change, conforming to programming, AODA group, and Family Therapy. I loved going to the Everglades. It was so new. It was so challenging because of the unknown environment. I learned to expect the unexpected. I never realized what was so great about photography until I was inspired by the unknown surroundings. Before the Everglades, I thought that this unknown territory was dangerous and threatening. But after talking to the many rangers and through my experiences I learned that I had made assumptions about something that I actually knew nothing about. A lot of assumptions are made throughout a person’s life. However I now understand that we learn from experiences, we don’t learn from what other people say."