Take a Hike
By Grace Carballo ‘17
Do it for the fresh air (do you even remember what that tastes/feels like?), do it to challenge yourself, do it to meet some rad new people, do it to get to know some of USC’s best and brightest professors outside the classroom, do it for the insta… I’m not going to get hung up on your intentions, so long as you take a hike with Peaks and Professors.
Let’s play “Spot the Professor” in the photo above. You can’t because she is so youthful and cool and defies all your preconceived notions of intellectuals with Ph.Ds in chemistry (Professor Broyer is to the right of me in this photo wearing the blue shoes).
Had I not gone on this hike, I never would have gotten to meet this unbelievably cool professor, who started it off with a short experiment/act of sorcery in which she lit a piece of cotton (with some sort of chemistry/potion in it) on fire in the palm of her hand but did not get burnt. Of course, she explained the science behind it but I was too busy googling where she went to school, convinced her degrees were actually from Hogwarts or similar (I was mistaken).
The 8-mile out and back hike up the mountain was filled with getting to know my fellow hikers/Trojans, most of whom I probably would never have even crossed paths with had we not all signed up. Two of my new friends had just moved from China, one was from Mexico, and all ages were represented, including a graduate student. We all had so much to learn from each other and talk about, despite our diverse backgrounds or maybe because of these differences. We shared anecdotes and laughs throughout the entire climb, although I was unable to contribute much during the last stretch where we had to scramble because alas, I am asthmatic.
At the top, I shared an orange with Professor Broyer and my friend Garrett as we discussed our resolutions and lives. Not only is she an amazing chemist, she also snowboards, surfs, rock climbs, and does basically everything challenging and outdoorsy, plus has great taste in music. When I was raving about her to my friends upon my return, I mentioned that I might switch my major to Chemistry or PreMed so I can take one of her classes. I was then reminded that I am neither interested, nor qualified, so that ambition faded quickly but I do hope to go on another trip with her in the near future.
I am very sore from this endeavor but each painful step is a reminder of the great times we all shared. On the long car ride home (shout out to absurd Los Angeles traffic- I seriously do not understand how there can be traffic… if everyone just keeps driving fast, there would be no issue. Someone explain how this doesn’t work, please), my carpool played this game where we all answered getting-to-know-you type questions, which sounds lame but wasn’t, and basically resulted in some Breakfast Club level of emotional connections.
As a new Trip Lead for this organization, I have only great things to say about it but if you don’t believe me (check yourself, I’m probably too honest), I highly recommend looking at the Peaks and Professors website (run by my pal, Jack, who led the trip this Saturday and rocks in every way) for more deets:
http://peaksandprofessors.org/
So, whether you do it so you can spill all your secrets to a car full of former strangers on the ride home from the mountain, or you do it to realize your idol might in fact be a professor outside your field, or you do it to tone muscles you didn’t know existed, or for the aforementioned insta (I did pretty well with the favorites, tbh), I mean this in the best possible way, TAKE A HIKE!
