Training Training and more training!

Hey friends! It's Berks here!

This is my first ever blog for SWEBOP so bare with me here =P

So some of you might be wondering what

SWEBOP is up to this semester, and if you're not, you should be, because it's gonna be awesome. Right now, all of the instructors are pretty much

booked every weekend with either trips or training. Every year we do a lot of the same

training to make sure it's still fresh in our minds. This past weekend we had Wilderness Rescue Training and American Red Cross CPR/First Aid training. CPR and first aid was mainly a refresher for most of us, and ended up being a lot of fun simulating fixing up hurt people and CPR. For Wilderne

ss Rescue training we learned lots of knots and how to beam people (move them without moving their spine, and all that fun stuff), AND the highlight of the day was the z-drag. The z-drag is a rope setup that we would use if we had to put someone in the litter (sort of like a stretcher but not really) and help them up the hill. For all you non-engineer type people out there it's a way for us to use a rope to hold the load instead of us! We didn't get too many pictures from this ev

ent (but we did get a lot of weird look

s from girls going to dinner) because we were all either on the litter team helping carry it and our patient or on the team who was working the ropes, but here's my favorite of the day:

Because it was a simulation, we picked KM to be in the litter and stuffed her in the litter pretty tightly. Laura told us it was themost padding she'd ever seen put in a litter! KM ha

d a lot of fun with it, though, as you can see from this picture. We had to stand her up, flip her over (things we wouldn't do in a real emergency- promise! We were just seeing how tightly she was in there!), lift her over the desk in the post office, then under it, and then around the lower quad to where we hooked her to the z-drag. Through this all KM talked to us and "threw up" meaning we had to tip her a lot. Though, she paid her dues when she got out and she and I had to put all the clothes we used to pack her in back into the gear room!

Here are a few more pictures from the day!

Speaking of the gear room coordinators (myself and KM), we found the extra manican we usually use for our window displays hiding in with the sleeping bags and decided he should be displayed as well so he didn't feel left out! Note: the creepy man shadow under him is actually the other manican in the window =P

I'm so excited for the trips this semester, and I hope that a lot of Sweet Briar woman are as well! As I'm writing this, I'm watching girls come in ready to go on our first ski/snowboarding trip at Wintergreen this semester! So exciting! Next weekend we have ice skating (which, I'm leading and am super excited about) And this coming weekend we have the Leadership Conference! (sorry for the absurd about of ! there, I got kinda overly excited)

Well that's all for now,

Berks =)

Whether its with the SWEBOP Spring Break Trip or just on our own, KM ’13 and I are hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail during Spring Break. To prepare, we’ve agreed to meet twice a week to walk with loaded packs, hopefully increasing our endurance and capacity to carry lots of stuff on our backs.

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Of course, to do this requires us to walk around campus with big backpacks on our backs…much to the chagrin of the other girls working out. KJ ’11 snagged a picture as she giggled at us:

Though not yet joining us to 'train', there are already a group of students committed and excited to hike the AT this spring. WE leaders are excited to see who else signs up and how the trip preparations pan-out

Fun in the Office

Don't be fooled by all our beautiful outdoor adventures, SWEBOP instructors work hard in the office as well. Well, we're in the office a lot. We don't necessarily always work hard. Togetherness usually means a good story is ahead. Here's a selection of pictures from around the office this semester.

KM pranks AB while trying to boulder. Three of the instructors pose for a picture at Sweet Briar's homecoming in September
General mayhem in the office as AB and I take pictures on the office Mac and Bearslayer (as she's affectionately called) boulders while we're all waiting to start a pre-trip meeting.

The instructors love being subscribed to Rock and Ice and Climbing magazines...because we love to cut out the pictures.MK rocks a few pieces from the SWEBOP gear room. VL, though not in the head-to-toe long underwear, is still looking good in her SWBEOP shirt.
This job is exhausting. This picture is not at all staged; during a wilderness medicine training we all laid down to nap before resuming our scheduled activities.

Outdoor Climbing Trip

On October 24th SWEBOP went to Goshen, VA for some much needed outdoor climbing! After everyone grabbed some breakfast from SWEBOP we hit the dusty trail around 9am. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and the weather was perfect for climbing. After arriving at Goshen we hiked (which was supposed to be a 20min trail to the climbing site... but we may or may not have gotten lost) to meet Laura and Alyssa who had already set up the climbs for us, which was baller! Before climbing we all ate lunch and met the other climbers at the site who were students from UVA. Everyone had their fair share of climbing and we also did some repelling that day! The views were spectacular from the top of the climbs and the fall colors were the icing on the cake to this great trip.

Erin was totally rockin' that climb!

Apology and Canoeing

I'm SOOO sorry it's been so long since the last post! Would you believe and forgive me if I said I hadn't blogged because I was too busy being outdoors? It's true. So many great trips = so little time to talk about them. But our boss always says 'reflection is an important part of any experience' so it's time to sit down and reflect on the first trip of the year: canoeing.

The SWEBOP instructors met the first week in August to a.) meet each other b.) train for the upcoming year c.) learn to canoe. We spent a lot of time talking about communication, teaching methods, working as a group, redefining yourself outside of your ‘normal’ environment and how to…camp. This semester has been very busy, and, looking back, I really enjoyed spending so much time living so simply, taking time to reflect and teach others.

Our canoeing guide, Dennis, was 64 and a world class white water canoeist. We were really blessed to have him as our guide, and he took a ton of pictures and videos of our trip. Here are a few highlights:

Enjoying camp on the 2nd night

VL and AZ paddling Balcony Falls
Me and JC paddle Balcony Falls
JC enjoys Solo Time on her own rock in the river

Updates about other trips this semester should be coming soon from AZ and KM so keep checking back for those.

We're obviously slackers when it comes to this, but if you have any ideas, questions or comments feel free to share!

Hiring!!

WE ARE HIRING!!!
Sweet freaking deal ladies!!!
Every one should be STOKED about this ;0) I know the instructors sure as heck are!

You can pick up your applications from Donna Boyd
They are due APRIL 20TH to Laura Staman
That must include your Resume, Cover letter, and Application
Email us with any questions!

There will be an informal question and answer session tomorrow at lunch.
Feel free to stop by :0)
Hope to see you lovely ladies there!!

Whyyyy Hello Ladies

Hellllooooooo Ladies,
Oh wow, its been a LONG time. Holy. Like what? 7 months?
So how have you been? Anything new with life? Hopefully school is still going spectacular.
SWEBOP is alive and well. It doesn't help that the weather is epically nice out. Although we did kind of skip seasons. I believe it went something along the lines of winter -> summer -> then spring. Hopefully we will be getting back into summer soon because frankly, I would rather be outside then in.
So what does the SWEBOP program hold for us in the future?
Why how nice of you to ask.
We have fly fishing and the Warm Springs Spa, Outing Cabin Certification, Kayaking, Adventure Tuesdays, and Kayaking Pool Clinics.
I know, so few trips left but then again ladies, so few days left.
33 to be exact. Not that I am counting or anything. I swear. Oh and that is 33 days til graduation. So for all the underclassmen who are declining to stay til graduation, it's less.

Well, I have nothing else to say other then enjoy the weather outside and make SWEBOP proud.
-R
ps- there will be more black-mailing worth pictures like the one above in future posts.

SWEBOP IS THE AWESOMEEEE

HAVENT UPDATED IN AWHILE! AHHH!

So us SWEBOPERS have been up to a TON! From climbing at the indoor rock gym Rise-Up climbing to multipitching at Seneca with SENECA ROCKS CLIMBING SCHOOL and the awesomeness that is Massey Teel. Had a rollicking time!

We also went hang gliding with KITTY HAWK KITES in the Outer Banks! How awesome! Great Time on the dunes! Then went out for Ice Cream and saw an awesome impromptu magic show!

Melaina and Ellie passed their Belay Certification! W00t!

CARLISE is back from Senegal and lending her awesomeness and organization skills to SWEBOP! YESSS!

WE HAVE NEWBIES! lots of new instructors got hired! THEY ARE ALL AWESOME!

COME ON TRIPS WITH US!

Back to School...Back to school.. to prove to dad that I'm not a fool...

Hellllloooooo!!!
SWEBOP is in the full swing of things with classes already started and our trip sign up being today. There are going to be some ridiculously sweet trips. Such as rock climbing at Seneca, backpacking, kayaking, indoor rock climbing, night hiking, fly fishing, hang gliding and SOOO much more. I know all of the instructors are stoked and so are many of the students. There are more updates to come so keep your eyes out!!
Rach :0)