Sorry, you’re doing what? Search and Rescue?!” I looked over at Ketan Ahuja ’10 with suspicion. He had been bragging about his Search and Rescue program all throughout lunch, proudly displaying his “manly cut,” a tiny scratch that he had received while doing high ropes exercise. That day I decided to dismiss his excitement over the mysterious sport, but soon I heard more and more exciting tales from my friends from Lithuania, France and Vietnam… And so, I decided to try it. Risking everything for a photo of myself hanging by a rope from a treetop, managing to keep my hair dry after capsizing, freezing at the peak of Mt. Manadnock, playing Mafia during our overnight trip – it’s been cool. Toan Nguyen, a new Upper from Vietnam, recalls our first day canoeing trip as one of his favorite Search and Rescue moments. Why was it so memorable? He singlehandedly capsized five canoes. For me, it was hilarious to watch Toan peacefully paddle along and then accidentally topple into the water. Hilarious, that is, until he retaliated by overturning all of us. “I screwed everybody by capsizing all the canoes!” he proudly proclaimed. For Marta Misiulaityte, a new Upper from Lithuania, the most memorable experience came during the high ropes exercise: an adventure where we climbed up trees and edged across ropes 50 feet above ground. “I loved doing the high ropes in the Sanctuary and trusting my life to the ropes,” she says. “It was really hard not to look down at first, but once I got used to the height it was okay. It was a great challenge to my mind — convincing myself that I can trust the person on the ground, trust someone to hold my life in their hands. Once I was finally lowered down, I only wanted to go up right away again!” But for me, there is no sport cooler than “orienteering” — a combination of running and navigational skill, where athletes use maps and compasses to find hidden goals in the shortest possible time. Competition was fun at the Prospect Hill Orienteering Meet, I won the Orange Course while Chuan Xu ’12, sprinted to victory on the White Course — but my favorite moment came during a practice orienteering run at the Sanctuary. Once again, I was vigorously competing with Chuan, and once again he was leading me by a few minutes. The fifth control lay right across the river, and it was then that I decided to outsmart Chuan; instead of taking the advised path detour, I noticed the still, dry pine needles that covered the river and decided to safely cut across. Without a second thought, I confidently leaped onto one of the pine needle clumps – a short sinking sensation, and I found myself almost waist-deep in the water! Cursing and dripping, I hauled myself out of the ditch and ran on, catching up to a limping Chuan near the finish. “Oh, Chuan!” I began to complain, but he interrupted me, “No way, I thought I was being so clever, those deceiving pine needles, that river must’ve been three feet deep!” And seeing someone else who had collapsed waist-deep into the river, realizing that I wasn’t alone in my intense enthusiasm for orienteering — that moment defined my S&R experience. I would like to thank my coach Mika Latva-Kokko for the orienteering expertise and Emily Trespas for her constant flow of encouragement. And to all the S&R-ers, Gnomes, CHOP-ers – whatever we call ourselves these days – I’ll definitely see you next year. Valeria Fedyk is a new Upper from Phoenix, Ariz. vfedyk@andover.edu
