This summer, I had the opportunity to attend the ANA Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs for the second time on a YN Scholarship.  There were a lot of different things that made this year's Summer Seminar really amazing.  From the new classes that the ANA added this year to the YN Auction and many more, all of it made the experience of attending Summer Seminar again awesome and in this article, I want to tell you a bit about my trip as well as a bit on Summer Seminar.

The journey to Colorado Spring began early in the morning on Friday, June 29.  Flying from Halifax, via Chicago O'Hare into Colorado Springs, I got there in the late afternoon. Once I arrived, I met up with a representative from the ANA, Daniel "Tiny" Cross, and another YN before going to the dorms on a short shuttle ride.  After unpacking in my room and meeting my roommate, who happened to have been there last year, we headed off for an off-campus dinner at HuHot Mongolian Grill, where we met the old and new friends that we would be living with for the next week and have the ground rules laid out for our behaviour while at the Summer Seminar.  We had the opportunity to explore the immediate area around the dorms, getting to visit Hallenbeck's Coin Gallery, the Edward C. Rochette Money Museum as well as attend the Colorado Springs Coin Show.

During the next few days, I got to take part in one of the many classes at Summer Seminar.  This year, I took the "Creating a Winning Numismatic Exhibit" course taught by award winning exhibitor and former Radford Sterns Award winner Lawrence "Larry" Sekulich. All throughout this class, we took a look at everything it takes to create a winning exhibit.  Everyone in the class were veteran exhibitors, which meant that we would be able to learn as much from each other as well as from Mr. Sekulich.  In the end, we could all say that we were more confident exhibitors and it gave us the tools to succeed in future exhibitions.

On Wednesday night, my favourite part of the week took place. The Young Numismatist Scholarship Auction, which raises money to send young collectors from around the United States and Canada back to Colorado Springs year after year.  This event is even tough to describe because of how much fun it is.  All through the week, the Young Numismatists attending the Summer Seminar take donations for the lots, make a catalogue of all the lots and run everything on auction night.  There is not many rules on what should happen but there is one.  As Sonny Henry, our auctioneer always says, "Bid High, Bid Often".  During our auction, the highlight of it was a Roman Empire gold coin that went for $11,250.  We ended up raising a total of $30,207.50, topping the total set by the Session 1 auction.

The experience of attending Summer Seminar once was awesome. Getting to go again made it even more special.  Whether it was the people that you would meet, the things you would learn or even just being in Colorado Springs, the experience of attending Summer Seminar was very rewarding for me.  I would encourage any young person that has an interest in numismatics and wants to become more knowledgeable in a certain field of numismatics to apply for the seminar.  Next years session's go from June 22^nd to the 28^th for Session 1 and June 29^th to July 5^th for session 2.