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Volume CXXXIII, Number 10 |
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BOC Profile: Stacy Kirschner-Linehan relishes in outdoors
ELLIOT JACOBS
COLUMNIST
The Bowdoin Outing Club is the largest student organization on campus, with more than a quarter of students as members. With a large facility, rooms full of gear, and a busy schedule of trips, speakers, and classes, the BOC is too much for students to run alone. That's why it has two full-time employees who oversee operations, safety, and make sure that things run smoothly.
Stacy Kirschner-Linehan, Assistant Director of the Outing Club, is one of these two employees. Stacy is a vital part of the BOC. In her three years here, the Outing Club has grown by leaps and bounds. People who know Stacy describe her as the nicest person on campus, with the best job. She spends nearly every weekend during the school year out on the ocean, in rivers, and on mountains with Bowdoin students. Stacy's path to BOC glory, however, had many switchbacks:
Stacy was born in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, which is, as we all know, a ridiculously awesome outdoor town on the left coast. When she was five, however, she moved to Saudi Arabia, where she lived until she was 13 years old.
In Saudi Arabia, she learned to swim, pray five times daily, and water ski. She was happy to leave the 120-degree heat and the numerous marriage proposals to return to Nevada at age 13. Upon her return, she was crushed to learn that Jordache jeans are no longer the style, and that the lead singer of The Culture Club was not a woman.
Disappointed by America, she started going out on backpacking trips by herself. By the time she reached college, she knew that the outdoors was a passion of hers. During college she planned on becoming a field biologist, studying philosophy, environmental studies, and biology. However, she began leading canoe trips for a class, and fell in love with trip leading. She also did a SEA Semester, and realized that being outside in challenging environments with groups was something she enjoyed.
After college, Stacy decided that it was time to get to work, and really make something of herself. She spent the next year ski-bumming in Jackson Hole, and then spent the following year on the road with the band Pearl Jam. After some time, she began working at the Chewonki Foundation, just up the road in Wiscasset, teaching environmental education and leading whitewater kayaking trips. After five years of "the wonk"-meeting her future husband along the way-it was a short trip to the BOC, where Michael Woodruff, the student who never left, was incredibly overwhelmed by his inability to use any type of computer.
In the three years that she's been here, Stacy has seen some big changes. The new building gave her an actual office, which she likes. She also just celebrated her first wedding anniversary on Monhegan Island, and bought a house on the Back River. There she lives a crazy life with her dog, Tahoe, overseer of the Bowdoin Outing Club, and Ryan, her kayaker husband.
However, her life is still full of excitement-this summer she broke her pinky rafting on the Kennebec River, as she pulled a helpless raft guest out of the swirling whitewater and into the safety of the raft just before going over Magic Falls, the biggest rapid on the river. That raft guest? You guessed it-Bob Graves.
Stacy is also leading the telemark ski trip out to the Sierras over spring break (even though she rides instead of skis), and always has more plans for sea kayaking trips-she has paddled all over the country.
While it is rumored that Stacy is the nicest person on earth, I have come to realize that she has a mean streak. Why, just the other day, she said to me: "You know, I really appreciate your enthusiasm and your feedback, but we just don't have the budget to buy you, Dan, Kazia, and Jeff all matching Carhartt worksuits and golfcarts. And as for your other idea, I don't think that jetpacks are even real." Wow, you're cutting deep, Stace. Right in the feel-bads.
Regardless, Stacy is an awesome person to know, so come by the Outing Club and introduce yourself if you don't know her already. She's the one in the middle office and she is one of the reasons that the Outing Club is great.
Finally, I conclude with more advice for freshmen. This time I let Stacy write it:
"Get a clue freshman...which means get outside, immerse yourself in your surroundings, see more than Bowdoin's campus and make sure to quit being such punks. Oh and next semester we will be auctioning off dates with our officers, so stop by soon to put in a bid for Elliot, Dan, or Jeff, all starting at $2.50."
For information on sending a letter to the editor, please click here.
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