Reagan Ranch High School Conference student Harrison Otis from Freeport, Maine published an article about the conference in The Times Record. 
Here are some excerpts:
"I had heard a lot about Reagan’s unpretentious “home away from
home” at the ranch, about how it showed Reagan’s humility and
down-to-earth character, but I still wasn’t prepared for his house. I
expected it to be a normal-sized, stylized cowboy-style “ranch,” but it
wasn’t embellished even that much.
The entire ranch occupies 688
acres, but the main ranch house is surprisingly small (only 1,500
square feet) — so small, in fact, that my tour group of 18 had a hard
time maneuvering through it.
As the group followed the curator
through the house, I pitied those at the back of the line who were
always forced to be at least a room behind or around a corner.
And
while the house is Western-style, it certainly is not a hyped-up,
Hollywood version of “cowboy-ism”; when I first walked inside, I was
reminded of a fisherman’s Cape Cod cottage. Of course, cottages in Cape
Cod are probably not made of adobe, but the rough wood beams in the
ceiling of the entry room (that Reagan put in himself when building the
addition to the house) lent the area a rustic air.
In fact, more
than anything else, I was struck by the house’s normality — I knew that
the house was simple, but I expected it to be somehow specially simple.
The house broke my expectations by being plain. It was the house of a
president, but it was normal. I think that speaks to the character of
President Reagan — he wasn’t a “career politician,” but a hard-working
American who wanted to serve his country."
"Reagan did not compromise on his core values even when they came
under fire from his advisors, and it was because of that unbending
commitment that the Berlin Wall came down and communism was defeated,
he explained.
That idea struck a chord with me. I want to be
that sort of person — someone who never gives up on what is right just
because it is unpopular.
Reflecting over the events of that
weekend, I have realized that unwavering commitment to principle was
one of the greatest lessons I learned from the Ronald Reagan High
School Conference. I hope to apply it to my life in the weeks and
months to come."
Read the whole article here
