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Volume CXXXIII, Number 6 |
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BOC Notebook: Chilly leadership training over break
ELLIOT JACOBS
COLUMNIST
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| Outing Club leader Stacy Linehan braved chilly conditions last weekend during a leadership training trip. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Outing Club) |
I awoke in the warmth of my sleeping bag to the flap of leathery wings outside the tent. Clearly the pterodactyl from my dream was not just a dream, but a reality-gripping and clawing at the tent as it tried to uproot us from the ground. I panicked and preapred to escape from the tent into the freezing darkness of Butter Island.
As my head began to clear, however, I realized that it was not a pterodactyl that was trying to take the tent away, but that the tent itself was trying of its own volition to escape. Flogging against the 25-knot breeze, the vestibule had ripped out of its moorings and was smashing against the tent. My tentmates Larissa and Emma also woke up to the sound of the unrelenting wind on our thin shelter, and we climbed into total darkness at 3:00 a.m. to fix it.
The air was freezing and made colder by the huge northwest wind that had risen sometime during the night. We fought the vestibule back into place and checked all of the clips to make sure the tent wasn't going anywhere. Before we climbed back into the warmth of our sleeping bags, we stopped for a brief moment to look at the autumn stars, which seemed close enough to touch. Orion, the winter constellation, was rising low on the horizon. It was the last sea kayaking trip of the fall.
While it was not a typical fall break, it was a perfect proving ground for the newest group of Outing Club leaders. Over the break, while many students went home to Boston or were partying elsewhere, the leadership training expedition spent four cold, wet days on the coast of Maine, working on their sea kayaking and leadership skills.
The expedition, which included future Outing Club leaders Manya Albertson, Emma Sears, Will Morris, Brook Shaffer, Larissa Curlik, Rose Kent, Charlie Johnson, Martina Welke, Flavia Chen, Lauren Pfingstag, Amelia Fiske, Schuyler Dudley, and Liz Hoering, and led by Stacy Linehan and me, was a huge success. We were able to circumnavigate Deer Isle, in Penobscot Bay, paddling 40 miles over four of the coldest days of sea kayaking in the BOC's history. The trip was difficult by design, aiming to expose the leaders to conditions worse than they would encounter on the average BOC trip.
I was fortunate enough to spend some time with these competent and enthusiastic leaders, and it is clear that the BOC will be in good hands for years to come. If braving the elements, leading your peers, and increasing your outdoor skills is something that fills your sails, don't forget that we will be selecting the leadership training class for next spring in mid-November. An informational meeting will be announced in the next few weeks. Leadership training is a huge commitment, but also a life-changing experience.
Other big news in the BOC is Alvah Simon's return to Bowdoin. Simon, author of North to the Night, will be here on Monday to talk about his new book, A Life Well Wasted. When he was our age, Alvah decided that the shirt-and-tie life wasn't for him and left America in a small sailboat for a lifetime of adventure on every continent. His stories are incredible, his slides will be amazing, and he is just a dude. You won't want to miss it-Kresge Auditorium, 7:00 p.m., Monday.
Also, for BOC members, we will be having a pizza dinner with Mr. Simon, so email me (ejacobs) with your ID number if you'd like to eat with the man himself.
Also this weekend, don't forget about BOC trips that are going out. On Saturday, Evan Kohn and Karen Jacobson will lead a day hike to Camden Hills and on Sunday, Kelly Orr and Ben Smith will take a flatwater canoe trip on the Saco River.
Both of these trips should be an awesome way to get off campus and may be your last chance to see the beautiful fall foliage while the temperature is still above freezing.
The weather forecast for this weekend is favorable-you'll regret not getting outside one last time when you're sprinting between class and your room so your eyeballs don't freeze.
Finally, once again, some advice for the freshmen. I see so many of you in the library these days-working, reading, typing stuff. My advice: Get a clue, freshmen! Let me fill you in on a couple of "senior secrets:" 1) C's get degrees. That's a fact. And sometimes D's. 2) Papers always take the full amount of time from when you start to when they are due. Thus, it is to your advantage not to start papers until the last minute. It's more efficient, and I'm nothing if not efficient. 3) You came to college to learn important stuff, but I've found that the most important things I've learned haven't been from the classroom. It's easy to get lost in the work, but not as easy to think about what is best for your soul. For me, that's often not reading for class, and sometimes not even purchasing the textbooks.
In conclusion, your response when asked about going to a concert, taking a BOC trip, or any number of immoral or illicit activities should be, "What, am I going to stay here and learn?"
Take time to climb a mountain, drink a few beers, watch the playoffs, or do whatever it is that makes your finite life joyful.
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