Tour de California
by Jane Klemmer, IECA Associate Member (New York)
I’m still riding an incredible high, no pun intended. Two days ago I returned from a week in southern California, where I cycled and toured colleges with 16 other college counselors and consultants. To say that this was one of my most memorable college tours sounds almost trite, especially coming from an educational consultant who has been in practice barely three years. Nevertheless, I am certain that the special memories from this unusual college tour will stay with me for many years to come.
Bill Dingledine (SC) and Jane Klemmer (NY)
In one week, five actual days of cycling, we covered roughly 180 miles and visited 13 colleges, pedaling from school to school and carrying our own gear. Starting at the University of Redlands and working our way west to Los Angeles, we spent most of our nights in dorms and came to know well the challenges of non-fitted sheets on plastic covered mattresses. This is about as “roughing it” as it gets in the world of college counseling, but we chalked it up to just another part of the experience. The weather was also far colder than I had anticipated (something I should probably keep to myself, given what colleagues experienced last week on the east coast). I ended up buying a LaVerne sweatshirt, which I will wear proudly, and a windbreaker at one of the cycle shops along the way so that I could brave the brisk and cloudy mornings that we were told was very unusual. This was “June Gloom” arriving in California a month late, a refrain repeated at every stop along our way.
Unforeseen cool weather and a few unexpected mishaps only added to the special nature of our adventure. There are, of course, the obvious reasons why this trip was such a positive and unforgettable experience for all of us involved: the special camaraderie among us, informative college visits with some over-the-top hospitality, and excellent cycling. However, two of the benefits of a trip such as this are probably even more meaningful and perhaps less obvious.
My IECA colleague, Bill Dingledine (who has continued on to cycle and tour colleges for another week), and I were the only independent consultants in this group, yet never once did I feel I needed to explain what I did, nor feel like we were somehow different from the rest of the group. I truly believe that experiences like these help break down what are sometimes barriers between independent consultants and school counselors. I feel confident that many of my cycling colleagues now have a better understanding of what we do and see the real value that we add to the college search and application process. We are another contributing member of the team.
But let me share with you what I truly believe to be the best benefit of all: attaining a goal that I set for myself, having worked and trained diligently to achieve it! We as independent consultants challenge students to establish goals and strive to reach them. Why should we, regardless of our age and experience, be any different? Having goals and dreams is what keeps us fresh, too. The best way to instill motivation in students is to lead by example. Showing them the benefits of putting in the effort and going the extra mile, figuratively and sometimes, literally, can be as important in the long run as the suggestions we offer for an essay.
We spent our last night on the gorgeous campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, which sits high on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The next morning we cycled back down the Pacific Coast Highway, with the ocean a constant to our right. A few of our colleagues decided to test the frigid waters at Venice Beach before we did a quick cycle through Loyola Marymount University, and shared our last lunch together at the In and Out Burger, a ubiquitous California chain that became a true ‘destination” for us after some in our group talked it up for a week. No one was disappointed, and we agreed that it was a fitting farewell luncheon before we returned rental bikes and said our good-byes.
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