Senior plans trip Down Under

PABLO - Jaylen Carpentier is reaping the rewards of her hard work.

Not only is the Two Eagle River senior close to graduating, she is also fundraising for a trip to Australia.

Carpentier was selected by International Sports Specialists Inc., to be a part of the Down Under Sports program. She will play on an American basketball team that will travel to Australia on July 19. During the 12-day excursion, Carpentier will play in a nine-game tournament against American and Australian teams.

After being selected via a letter in the mail, she attended a meeting in Helena.

The trip is extra motivation for Carpentier to complete her studies at TERS.

"I think it's pretty cool [that I got nominated]," she said. "I'm almost done [with school] and if I hurry up and get that done, I'll have more time to work on [the trip]."

Carpentier has never been to Australia, let alone out of the United States.

In order to be a part of the trip, she plans to fundraise to help offset the costs. After putting down a deposit, Carpentier still has to raise more than $4,500.

Now, it's time to organize fundraising efforts. Carpentier has put together a 3-point shoot-out contest on April 9 with a 3-on-3 tournament on the following day. More information can be found at the Two Eagle River School main office.

Carpentier has already felt much support from the community as many prizes have been donated, such as a star quilt.

"We're thinking of either raffling it or auctioning it off," Carpentier said.

She is also selling 50/50 tickets and held an Indian Taco Feed last Saturday.

With all the plans in motion, Carpentier is feeling good about raising the money by the June 1 deadline.

"I'm pretty confident that we will," she said. "If I work hard at it. I think it will be a pretty good experience."

Her mom is equally excited for Carpentier to travel halfway around the world after graduating.

"She can see that there's other things besides Montana," Darlene Billie said.

During the trip, there will be down time for Carpentier and her teammates to explore their surroundings. She looks forward to learning to surf during her free time.

"But I'm scared of sharks," she said.

With all of the big plans of the future on her plate, Carpentier said she is starting to feel stressed.

"Plus, she's getting ready to go to Denver, too," Billie said.

Carpentier has been invited to a tournament in Colorado as well as the one in Australia.

"Its cool to play against other people," Carpentier said.

Carpentier has traveled Denver for its tournament two years ago and really enjoyed the city. She has also played in a select tournament in Couer d'Alene but said she liked Denver the best, even though that is where she hurt her ankle.

"It's somewhere new," she said. "It was really big. I've never been to a big city before. There was a lot of really good teams down there."

The competition in the tournaments can be tough, at first.

"It's overwhelming but after I started to play, I forget about it," she said. "Than I sprained my ankle."

Carpentier has been playing basketball since she was little, mostly in 3-on-3 tournaments.

"I could never play in any school things because I never had the grades but I think I started my freshman year at Two Eagle," she said.

She didn't let her grades keep her away from the court, enjoying the feeling of playing on a team and scoring baskets.

"It's fun and its a physical sport," she said. "Like when you score, everyone cheers. Its exciting."

Her most memorable memory has been scoring 33 points in a game against Phillipsburg.

memories

"It was a great team effort because we all came together that game," she said.

Carpentier isn't planning on using basketball as a catapult for her future, but does expect to go to North Idaho next year to pursue culinary arts after many years of cooking with her mom.

"You also get the satisfaction of people when they eat the food saying, ‘this is really good.'," she said.

However, fundraising isn't the only thing making Carpentier nervous. The airplane ride is giving her some anxiety. Her first plane ride was to the Denver tournament and she colored in coloring books to soothe her nerves.

"It just calmed me down," she said.

But, for now, Carpentier said she is going to focus on graduating and fundraising, dealing with the other issues as they come.

"We just started planning," she said. "I'm hoping to get the word out and have more reach out to help us."