Climbing New Heights

Hi! My name is Sofia, and I am a sophomore from Salt Lake City, Utah. I am majoring in Brain, Behavior, and Cognition (Neuroscience) at Whitman. This fall semester, I had the opportunity to work as a student leader for the Friends Rock program at Whitman, which involves opening up the experience of rock climbing to local elementary and middle school students.

So, what exactly does co-leading Friends Rock look like? Being a student leader for a community engagement program involves problem-solving, effective communication, and creativity. Most of the planning was done near the beginning of the semester, where we focused on securing the funding for the program, communicating with schools and transport to plan dates for, and updating everyone involved on the progress of the program.

After the program was set to run, we moved our efforts into planning each session! I coordinated with Alejandro Mata, my co-lead, to create curriculum, and plan each week with lessons, games, and activities. Each week involved two different program days: one with PiHigh and Garrison middle school students, and another with Sharpstein elementary school students.

For the middle school group, we focused on incorporating technique based lessons, planning the class in a similar format to a Whitiman SSRA course. We taught a technique, then a game or challenge to give the students a chance to practice a new skill while keeping them engaged. For the elementary schoolers, we coached a group of 25, highly motivated students (with lots of energy, might I add). The format we decided on was to start with an activity, shortly before splitting the group in half, with two rotations in and out of the gym. This meant we had to plan an alternative activity for the group that was not in the gym, giving us creative freedom to come up with fun ideas. Some of the alternative activities we came up with included sand volleyball, a tour of the Outdoor Program rental shop and science building, and hot chocolates at Cleveland with parents invited.

As student leaders, Alejandro and I also had to recruit and manage a group of volunteers. I had the privilege of getting to know a group of fantastic volunteers who all made lasting contributions to the program and to the experiences of the students involved. For those interested in community engagement, this is your sign to volunteer for a program at the CCEC: we could not have Friend's Rock happen without the help of our lovely volunteers!

Lastly, one of my favorite aspects of being a student leader was meeting and working with the amazing group of students in the CCEC. Part of my role was not only to develop the Friends Rock program, but also to meet with and provide support to other educational community engagement programs, specifically Friends, and Story time. We all collaborated to put on an event at Sharpstein, where we had many Whitman students volunteer to clean up the campus, and engage Sharpstein students in chalk drawing, face painting, poster making, and temporary tattoos. It was one of my favorite events of the semester, and I had a great time interacting with the Sharpstein students, as well as familiar and novel faces from Whitman. I am grateful for the opportunities I had to meet new people and make connections during these events!

Overall, being a student leader for Friends Rock was a challenging and rewarding experience. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to play a role in providing mentorship during an important time in the development of these students, and for my coworkers and peers who supported me through everything.

I am very appreciative of the opportunity the Whitman Internship Grant (WIG) has given me to engage with the community and help make the Friends Rock program happen. I encourage everyone interested to apply, and hope to hear about the opportunities future WIG recipients become involved with!