Here at Tahoe semester, polar plunging in the lake has become a part of our morning routine.
“Polar plunge reminds me how I can challenge my mind,” Roxana Popa, a sophomore at Centre, told me today after our morning dip in the lake. “It doesn’t get any less cold the longer you stay in, so staying in so long becomes a mental game.”
In the two and a half months we’ve been here, we’ve done and learned a lot. The mental strength polar plunge taught us proved immensely valuable as we spent three nights in sub-zero temperatures between day hikes through a snowstorm.
We have learned to mountain bike, climb, surf, snowshoe, and ski. I learned what “backcountry” means and the cultural implications the term invokes.
All the while, I have been prompted to not lose sight of the reason I’m here. Tahoe semester is much more than a fun, adventure-seeking semester. We are challenged to examine the privilege with which we enter these spaces. We are prompted to consider why we are doing these things.
“I love the intentionality in everything we do here,” Joey Johnson, a junior at Centre, said. “We have time and space to reflect on the things we’re doing, rather than just checking them off a list.”
Each of our four classes is aimed at answering the question “what is nature?” which we discuss amidst each outdoor excursion. This question has provided me with a way to process the experiences I’m having– a way to channel them into both personal and academic growth.
In this environment, I have developed a profound sense of respect for my professors. We’ve had class on the beach, in the van, on the dock, around a campfire, and in the classroom. In these intimate classroom settings, we are presented with challenging texts and rich discussions. There, I see my peers channel that polar plunge mental strength.
As I confront the question “what is nature?” I look to the community we’ve built here at Tahoe Semester.
About ten people live on campus who make up Tahoe semester, including advisors and professors. We do everything together. This community pushes each of its members to grow. It is because I slept between Joey and Roxana fearing our tent poles might break under 50 mph wind gusts that I feel comfortable enough to knock on their doors asking for a hug when I’m homesick. It is because I spent spring break navigating a new place, i.e. San Francisco, with Hninn Ei and Lilah, that I was able to trust them belaying me my first time climbing. It is because Dave responds with such wisdom and empathy in the classroom that I trusted him in teaching me to mountain bike and ski.
We find ritual in our consistency of daily morning polar plunges, Sunday pancake breakfasts, and evening stargazes. These are the places and moments where I have found a community so precious I’m scared to leave.