MEINIG FAMILY CORNELL NATIONAL SCHOLARS
EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP AWARD
Whitney Simon
Industrial and Labor Relations '05
"I would found an oasis of madness in a pompous academic institution that
takes itself far too seriously." (WR quote)
Last fall a Cornell faculty member approached me and commented that it is always easy to figure out who participated in WR during orientation. To her, WR freshman appeared more confident, more at ease with the fact they were finally entering collge, and most importantly had a large group of friends with whom to brave the crowds during their first week. After spending the last year as director of WR and all of my time at Cornell involved with the program as a tripper or guide before taking over as coordinator, hearing that comment was one of the best compliments anyone could have ever given me. It indicated that WR as a program had been and will continue to be successful in our goal of helping new students sucessfully transition to life at Cornell.
The organization of Wilderness Reflections is entirely unique. The type of people it draws, the manner in which friendships and peer mentors are formed, the places we go, all are unparalled in any other group at Cornell and are key to forming the incredible ambiance that distinguishes WR from just another orientation group. For me, WR provides the opportunity to couple my passion for the outdoors and Cornell with a desire to mentor and lead others. There is nothing better than watching a new student from New York City shoulder a pack for the first time and fall in love with both Cornell and the outdoors while rockclimbing or backpacking through the Adirondacks. In addition, I have yet to find another group of individuals more dedicated to the mission and goals of an organization as the students involved with WR and it truly is the passion and community of student leaders (guides) that allows WR to remain the only entirely student run collegiate wilderness orientation program in the country.
I began my own involvment with WR as a tripper and later guide before becoming coordinator and I am convinced that it is the fact WR remains entirely student run that we manage to retain our zany vibe that facilitates such a fun and sucessful transition to college life.
I began my term as coordinator last January and during the summer my co-coordinator and I worked hand in hand with Todd Miner, the director of Cornell Outdoor Education to discuss and help design an expansion proposal for WR. While we want to be able to increase our ability to provide programs for incoming freshman, it was of the utmost importance that we find a way to expand our program without compromising the intimacy and unique environment that diferentiates WR from other programs. My co-coordinator and I attended conferences, held open informational and brainstoriming sessions, and consulted many past Wries before coming up with a proposal we felt would be appropriate. While we are still waiting to hear whether or not WR will receive the funding necessary to make the major changes necessary to drastically increase enrollment percentages, a number of goals have already been met. We created the WRAC (Wilderness Reflections Advirsory board comitte) which meets bi-monthly to help with expansion plans as well as attending to normal business and working towards making WR a more year round organization. In addition, this coming summer WR will offer two White Mountains backpacking trips instead of one, mountain biking, and a new kayak and backpacking combination trip. In addition we are also experimentaing with our first base camp style program which features the Hoffman Challenge course and allows for a less backpacking intense experience. All of our new programs are in attempt to reach out to a more diverse group of new students as well as other student leaders who have guiding skills in areas previously not utilized. In the future the WR expansion proposal hopes to allow the program to reach 10% of the incoming freshman population and have all guides with Wilderness First Responder certification paid for by subsidies from the program.
While my year as coordinator was amazing it was not without difficulties and running a program such as this taught me a lot about myself and the difficulties in leading and training such a large group of people, the majority of which are my peers. The first challenge I faced was balancing my administrative duties with my desire to be outside. I am an outdoor enthusiast/rock climber at heart and choosing to run the business side of WR rather than simply guide another trip was a difficult decision. Not only as the business director was I resonsible for all finances, financial aid, and scheduling, I was also liable for all final medical or emergency decisions and the person who delt with all the questions from concerned parents. At times this was a lot of pressure and while it would certainly have been easier to choose to spend a week guiding a trip rather than a year planning the program I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. When all the trippers arrived at Camp-O-Rama safe and happy after a week in the woods all I could say to Lindsay my co-coordinator was "We did this!"
Other challenges I faced were balancing my leadership style with that of my co-coordinator and maintaining my position as "the boss" while not insulting the intelligence of the guides who are my peers. I prefer to work very quickly and efficiently for shorter periods of time to allow for more time outside in the summer while my coordinator preferred to work at a slower pace while taking breaks throughout the day. I also tended to have a more relaxed attitude about allowing the guides to take their own initiative and work out their own problems. At one point we both felt that each of us was shouldering more than our share of the workload and we eventually had a discussion of both the positives and negatives of our respecive work and leadership styles to help us work out a system that would allow us to coordinate smoothly. Additionally, a lot of the guides were my friends and they often asked me for favors or for extensions on deadlines assuming I would understand or be more lax on rules given that we are close friends. It was often difficult but necessary to take a firm stance with my friends that deadlines were deadlines and being a guide involved a number of non-negotiable responsibilities. I worked very hard to act as both a leader and a friend so that the guides could feel relaxed and comfortable around me, but when it came down to difficult or important decisions they would still respect my authority.
Nothing has challened me more as a leader than my year coordinating Wilderness Reflections. I learned so much about myself, my priorities, my ability to lead, and also what it involves to essentially run your own progam. Luckily for me, all these experiences took place with people who share my same passions for the outdoors and belive wholeheartedly in the mission of our organization. I am confident that WR will not only continue to provide an unparalled orientation experience for incoming freshman, but also continue to develop student leaders as both guides, advisory board members, and coordinators.
