Take The Plunge

Palisade Glacier, The Sierras
photo credit: Will Rochfort, Alumni Guide

Being a guide here for ELAC has been the most influential learning experience I have had in my life thus far.  Although I am only a sophomore, the amount of hands on experience I have gained, the genuine relationships that I have formed, and the immense amount of knowledge I have learned all have enhanced my overall experience here at USD, especially last year as I struggled to find community on campus.  I think what has made this experience of learning technical skills, such as building rock climbing anchors and actually maneuvering a kayak, while incorporating leadership styles and how to interact with groups so valuable is that all of these come with a significant amount of risk.  This risk can be physical, but it also involves the courage to take the risk of going outside of the comfort of how I usually am.

So here are your next two words. Risk and Courage.  Risk is defined as a situation involving exposure to danger, while courage is defined as the ability to do something that frightens one.  So to make it simple, courage is the quality of having the mindset and spirit to face risk.

One of my first risks taken in college, excluding actually leaving home, was joining the guide program.  I came to ELAC with only the experience of family hiking trips and was thrown into a world of knots, carabiners, whisper light stoves, backpacks, and kayak paddles.  In the beginning it seemed like a foreign world with a foreign language.  But I am so proud of myself for stepping outside my own realm of comfort and finding my place in ELAC and at USD.  And, while I try not to worry too much about what comes next, in the future I hope to leave USD with the product of my hard work for this program and an appreciation for developing and challenging oneself both physically and mentally.

Guides are risk-takers to say the least.  It takes courage to hold the responsibility of a group in your hands.  It takes courage to lead a group of participants up a mountain or canoeing on the bay.  It takes courage to repel down waterfalls.  It takes courage to teach the silly teambuilding game,  “Boppity Bop Bop Bop”, reach out to people who may or may not think you are a crazy person.  It takes courage to be a decision-maker that may make mistakes.  It takes courage to be a leader and make yourself vulnerable to help others grow and develop their own sense of self.  That is what we guides do every trip.  We have the courage to take the plunge and push the limits everyday, because that is who we are and all of these experiences will be what we value and use after graduation, in the careers we chose, in the families we may have, and most of all in the incredible future experiences that are bound to happen.

-Katie :)

Katie, Rosie, Devon, Colin, and Caiti
Joshua Tree, January 2010