{"id":699,"date":"2024-10-02T14:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T18:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/?p=699"},"modified":"2024-10-23T13:14:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T17:14:44","slug":"climb-every-mountain-neither-snow-nor-sleet-nor-rain-can-slow-this-bates-senior-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/2024\/10\/02\/climb-every-mountain-neither-snow-nor-sleet-nor-rain-can-slow-this-bates-senior-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Summiting Success: How a Bates Senior Conquers Challenges, No Matter the Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Claire
Photo: Courtesy of Claire Barlass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever met Claire Barlass \u201925, a senior from Duluth, Minn., you would understand her answer to the question, \u201cWhy Bates?\u201d  \u201cI love the snow,\u201d she told us, \u201cI was following the snow east.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s anything Claire likes more than snow, it\u2019s probably math. Her love of the subject started in fourth grade, when her math teacher recognized that she and a few classmates had progressed beyond the assigned curriculum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo we had a hallway class with our teacher. He helped me realize I was capable of doing whatever I wanted to do,\u201d recalls Claire. Years later, she often has lunch with her former teacher when she\u2019s home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A feeling of capability is what Claire is helping to instill in fellow Bates students as a tutor at the Peer Learning Center (PLC), which plays a critical role in fostering a holistic, person-centered academic environment. \u201cBates has done a great job of destigmatizing needing help,\u201d she says. \u201cGoing into the PLC doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re a bad student. Even I, a tutor, will go to the PLC for help.\u201d For Claire, confidence is a big part of the equation, and the center helps students build that confidence, especially in subjects like calculus that can seem daunting at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helping to build the confidence of others has also shaped Claire\u2019s leadership role in the Bates Outing Club (BOC), where she\u2019s part of a larger effort to make outdoor activities more accessible and inclusive for all students. \u201cThe outdoor industry is horribly exclusive,\u201d she observes, but through structured trips and supportive leadership, Claire and the BOC are opening up these experiences to those who might not have been exposed to them before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire\u2019s path at Bates has been characterized by her willingness to embrace challenges, whether in the classroom, the outdoors, or in her pursuit of medicine as a double major in mathematics and biochemistry. \u201cI like working in high-stress situations. I love being constantly stimulated,\u201d she says, reflecting on her decision to join the Bates Emergency Medical Service (BEMS). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its founding by Bates students in 1995, BEMS has become an integral part of supporting the well-being of the campus community while simultaneously training and inspiring students to provide life-saving medical care. BEMS has been a vital part of Claire\u2019s own journey, helping her realize she\u2019s capable of much more than she initially imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy first call was terrifying. With anything, going into a new space where you\u2019re inexperienced can be terrifying. It\u2019s terrifying to not feel qualified in what you\u2019re doing. Feeling qualified comes from experience,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire\u2019s commitment to stepping outside her comfort zone doesn\u2019t stop with academics or EMS. Last semester, she realized she had become complacent, living in what she calls a \u201ccomfort bubble.\u201d To break free, she decided to study abroad in Kenya, an experience that would challenge her in ways she hadn\u2019t anticipated. \u201cThe hardest thing was that I was very clearly an outsider,\u201d she recalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the program ended, Claire and a friend climbed Mount Kenya, a journey that culminated in what she describes as \u201cthe most beautiful sunrise of my life.\u201d For Claire, outdoor activity isn\u2019t just important \u2014 it\u2019s essential to her sense of self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Claire enters her final year at Bates, she reflects on a journey marked by both academic and personal growth. Whether in the mountains, the classroom, or in her relationships, Claire has learned that true growth comes from stepping into the unknown, embracing discomfort, and trusting in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re more than just our grades at Bates. We don\u2019t talk about our rankings. We talk about what we love about what we\u2019re learning.\u201d For Claire, the pursuit of what she loves has always been about reaching new heights, one challenging step at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever met Claire Barlass \u201925, a senior from Duluth, Minn.,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-profiles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":944,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions\/944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/giving-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}