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1995 (Sept ’94 – Aug ‘95) |
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Locations:
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Highlights:
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Favorite
Expressions: |
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Program Staff:
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March
Participants |
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Deb Cades (I) |
Kent McIntosh(I) |
David Johnson |
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Anthony Crupi(I) |
Karleen O'Connor(I) |
Jessica Salsbury |
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Homi Kapadia(I) |
Suzie Rose(I) |
Katherine McFather |
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Paul Logan(I) |
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August
Staff |
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Jamie Bronner |
Katherine McFather |
Sarah Wooley |
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Todd Chaudhry |
Kent McIntosh |
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Ross Christie |
Rachel Miksad |
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Chicky Engstrom |
Merc Pittino |
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Joselyn
Fenstermacher |
Lucas Rugani |
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Carolien Gerwe |
Jessica Salsbury |
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Ken Greenberg |
Corinne Widico |
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August Crews |
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Yvonne Krvwyj |
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Stories |
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The
Beginning - Luke and Katherine McFather Rugani Let’s go back about 9 years to
staff training in August 1995. There
we were, relative strangers to each other.
Aside from possible run-ins during the house course earlier that year,
Katherine and I really didn’t know each other at all. Staff training was great, a new experience
for us, and eventually we learned that we’d be in base camp together…so our
friendship started. During training,
we didn’t really get to hang out that much, each of us more focused on
getting to know our co-leaders and completing assigned tasks. But eventually, we found ourselves in
Pisgah at the foot of Cedar Rock. As
crews arrived and crews departed, our group at base camp grew closer
together. I remember that year that Brandon
Lampley, a climbing director, was always scheming about something. Near the end of the trip, once the staff
had become a close-knit group, Brandon decided to pass some of the after-dinner
time with some games…intrusive games.
I believe it was a game of ‘I Never.’ (If you aren’t familiar with the
rules of “I Never,” someone there should be able to help you out.) Anyway, someone (sorry, I forget who it
was) jumped into the game with the statement, ‘I never had a romantic interest
with anyone in Project Wild.” Almost
everyone in the circle raised their hands, including me and Katherine, and of
course, everyone laughed. Interesting. I don’t think Brandon expected that level
of response – and he certainly wasn’t going to let it go that easily. The game continued, with everyone else
getting a turn. When it came to
Brandon again, he eyed his prey and all innocent, stated, “Okay, I never had
a romantic interest with anyone in base camp.” Sheepishly, a few hands went up – again,
including ours. The night ended with a
lot of speculation but no answers. As I recall, all the crews that
came through base camp were able to climb that year. It wasn’t like the year before when
tropical storm Beryl created such a memorable – read: wet – trip. When we’d returned to Cove Creek and all
the crews had been accounted for, the base camp staffers filed over to the
vans for a trip to Pizza Hut, as had been the tradition at the end of a trip. Before we loaded into the vans, Brandon
asked a few people, mainly those who had been in the “I Never” circle just a
few nights before, if they wanted to play another game called “Truth.” This was some new bullshit game that
Brandon made up on the spot.
Basically, if you agreed to play, everyone had a turn to ask a direct
question to the entire group. As we got going down to Brevard, I
remember I was sitting in the very last row of the van. Just in front of me was Katherine. Brandon went over the rules one more time –
no matter what the question, you had to answer truthfully. This was nearly evil. We were squirming in our seats with
anticipation of what might happen. The
questions started at the front of the van, and the first one was relatively
benign, obviously not from Brandon. We
responded in turn and then Brandon got his chance, and this time, he didn’t
hold back. We were winding through the
woods on the gravel road, normally a loud ride, but for some reason, it was
quiet. Even way in the back of the
van, I could hear his question clearly – “Who in PWild do you have a romantic
interest in?” Obviously, Brandon had
been plotting a way of finding this out since the game of “I Never.” The responses worked their way back, but no
one else responded with a name of another passenger in that van – an easy way
out, I thought to myself. Should I
bail? All of a sudden, it was
Katherine’s turn, and there was a definite pause before she answered. Do you know how much courage it must have
taken her to respond? “Luke,” she
said, finally. Holy shit!! I’m sitting right behind her. She knows it. The whole van knows it. She hadn’t looked back, however, throughout
the whole van ride. What a blind leap
of faith! I couldn’t bail now. This was certainly out of my comfort zone. Risk Night leaped into my mind – perceived
risk, actual risk, perceived risk, actual risk. It was my turn. A pause… My mouth was dry, and I
swallowed. I know I was blushing
something fierce. Finally, I got the
name out: “Katherine.” Everyone in the
van was basically cheering. I was
thinking to myself: Brandon is an ass, but not really. The rest of the game instantly lost its
thunder. Who cared anymore? We finally arrived at Pizza Hut and Brandon
had the biggest smirk on his face. Now what? I think we’d both admit that having that
knowledge made getting together somewhat awkward. We didn’t know how to proceed. I’ll spare you the details, but ultimately
we figured it out. Our relationship
strengthened over our three remaining years at Duke, and then we both attended
graduate schools in the Midwest. I was
at Marquette, and she was at Northwestern.
The 80 miles that separated us didn’t keep us apart. On |
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Photos |
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Links to photos. |
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