Hi, I'm Claire Fisher, and I'm a freshman at Stanford University.
I grew up in San Francisco, CA. My high school described itself as "a private school with a public purpose," and I did an independent study during Junior year to evaluate whether that was actually valid. I conducted interviews with students, faculty, and administration about the presence of service learning and community service in the classroom and in overall school culture, identified a lack of service-based academia, and spent tons of time brainstorming. Finally, I came up with a class called "Inter-Action" that is now offered at my school that allows students to identify a social issue and learn more about it by both volunteering at an organization that works to alleviate the problem and by connecting it to an academic department in order to see more of a real world application to their education. What was important to me in this process was to make it possible for students to do real and meaningful service. That is something that has always been important to me, and so I cannot wait for the ride this summer. I see it as a way to wholly commit myself to an incredible cause physically, mentally, and emotionally.
I also am excited for the athletic aspect of the trip. I swam competitively for nine years with a few seasons of cross-country, tennis, and soccer to ensure that I didn't get too sick of staring at the black line on the bottom of the pool year-round. My Junior year of high school, a family friend convinced me to try rowing because I was tall and had broad shoulders, and I was hooked! I now am on the Women's Varsity Rowing Team at Stanford. I love the intense physical and mental commitment the sport requires and the fact that it is the epitome of a team sport: I pull for the girl sitting in front of me in the boat and know that she is doing the same for me. I believe the Ride Against AIDS presents a similar situation in that it is an intensely cooperative effort but requires each individual to participate fully.
A professor this year advised me to "step off the path every once in a while," to take a risk in order to truly be open to new experiences. The ride is just that. This endeavor is unlike anything I've ever done... Boston, here I come!