A Message From Sonny "Gryffindor" Misa
As some of you may know, because of course I talk about it far too much, I joined CLIMB this year. CLIMB is a program for UCLA UniCamp that is designed for older campers, namely high school kids. Now you may be thinking, what does CLIMB stand for? Well CLIMB is short for Core Lessons in Mind and Body, but the name means so much more than what it seems.
CLIMB seeks to empower teenagers by tying life lessons into the world of climbing. We’ll teach the responsibility of holding someone’s life in your hands as you belay them, while showing how encouragement can help people reach new heights. As they climb, they’ll learn to face their fears by trusting that those below will catch them when they fall. Slacklining will lend to the idea of balance in all things, while the inevitable fall shows them that it's okay, perhaps necessary, to fall a few times before you can reach your goals. These are only a few of the hard skills that we’ll teach, but soft skills will also permeate the week. We’ll seek to connect their minds and bodies by showing them how your mindset can correlate to your physical well being, like how a powerful pose can boost your confidence.
Have you ever had those moments when you’re sitting around with someone and he or she suddenly starts wholeheartedly laughing? Did you find yourself smiling too, not quite sure why, but suddenly that laugh is contagious? Now think about how you felt afterwards, didn’t you come out happier even though you didn’t know the origins of the laugh? Well okay, this may commonly stem from the delirium that is "The Finals Week Study Grind", but I still firmly believe that if you physically join in that laughter, you’ll mentally feel better afterwards.
This program is a unique amalgamation of all our past experiences and personalities conducted on a far larger scale than classic UniCamp. With that said, the costs to run it are far more than before. Thanks to everyone I was able to raise over $800 last year, but this year my new fundraising goal is $1800. If what we seek to accomplish means anything to you, I would be eternally grateful if you took the time to donate right now, not later. Its easy to say you'll do it later and eventually push it to the back of your mind and forget, but that is essentially the opposite of this program. Its not about taking the easy path, nor does it encourage pushing things to do later. Its about taking that initiative right now to make an impact in whatever way you can. A droplet of water seems like nothing compared to an ocean but, when dropped on top, will create far reaching ripples.
https://www.giveffect.com/participants/662-sonny-gryffindor-misa
If you’ve always wondered why I chose Gryffindor as my name, refer to my event page last year.
https://www.facebook.com/events/605435779542686/
As always, I’ll leave you with an annotation of an idea that the ever wise QuickDraw, Martin Dang, left us with at the end of retreat:
Top roping gives you a unique opportunity to attempt a daunting task without the fear of failure. Now think of your senior year in high school, what is something that seemed like a mountain that you had to overcome but were afraid to attempt?
In 2013, over a third of teenagers nationwide did not attend college, more so from low socioeconomic status families. This may be due to various reasons, such as the financial burden, or perhaps not trying simply because it would seemingly be a waste of time to aim so high. Less than 10% of 4 year college graduates come from bottom-quartile families. Instilling that courage to shoot for the sky may very well be the one greatest opportunity we can leave with any teenager. Please help us reach this goal.
“Too few low-income students apply to and attend colleges and universities that are the best fit for them, resulting in a high level of academic undermatch”
Taken from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/white_house_report_on_increasing_college_opportunity_for_low-income_students_1-16-2014_final.pdf
