Welcome to Issue 11, Volume 2 of
We hope the school year is off to a great start! Whether you’re an alum, a parent, a friend of STRIVE, or a soon-to-be STRIVEr, you can now stay connected with the STRIVE network. Find all of the news and info about STRIVE programs, projects, and alumni activities in one simple place.
PS – want to receive the Monthly Cuy to your email every month? Sign up here!
What’s Goin’ On?
With the school year just getting underway, we caught up with a bunch of STRIVErs who are off doing awesome things – from traveling to the other side of the world to starting college cross country to killin’ it on the high school scene! Read on for more.
STRIVE has an awesome new program this fall – the STRIVE-Cast! An original, in-depth look at the running world with hosts Tyler Andrews (STRIVE’s resident pro runner in addition to being an admin and group leader) and David Wilder (STRIVE group leader). The duo hosts interviews with runners from all walks of life – from STRIVE alums to world-beating pros – and holds discussion on running news and topics (is a sub-2-hour marathon REALLY a possibility?). In the first episode, David and Ty interview Marielle Hall – both a world-beater and STRIVE-alum. You can download the podcast from STRIVE’s website or from itunes or your Apple Podcast App on your iphone (just search “STRIVE Trips”).
Morgan Florsheim (STRIVE-Peru, ‘14) has been having a killer cross country season so far! The high school junior ran a huge 5k PR of 17’35 – a performance which earned her the “National Athlete of the Week” title by milesplit.com. Morgan was a the State Champion of Wisconsin last year and we’ll be watching as she goes for another state title and then moves forward to compete on the national stage!
Morgan’s training and service as a part of STRIVE-Peru this summer have clearly helped produce some fantastic results!
More impressive cross country times are being recorded by Tomas Reimer (STRIVE-Peru, ‘12/STRIVE-Kenya ‘14). Tomas recorded a personal best of 13’03 for the 2.5M course (nearly 40 seconds faster than his time last year) to finish 3rd overall in the ultra-competitive boys’ championship race. We’re excited to see what he’ll do for the remainder of the season at the state and league championships!
Tomas showing his prowess on the track in Iten as a part of STRIVE-Kenya in 2014
STRIVEr Julia Stevenson (STRIVE-Peru, ‘14) earned “athlete of the week” honors at Hackley High School back in September for running an early-season PR of 19’15. Since then, she’s smashed the 19-minute barrier, running 18’42 at the Brown University XC Invite for 4th place in the girls’ Division 1 varsity race. If Julia’s average pace of 6’01/mile isn’t impressive enough, she also finished first for her team. Congrats, Julia and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more PRs on the way!
Julia’s great season is clearly (at least in part) due to the magic she gleaned from this llama.
Thinking Ahead – Apply Now for 2015 Summer Programs!
2015 STRIVE program applications are starting to come in! Not only will you have a better chance of getting your first choice program by signing up early, but you can still save with an early-bird sign-up discount on the summer of a lifetime! The current early-bird discount is 5% off until December 1st, 2014 (for first time STRIVErs) and don’t forget to take advantage of our even bigger discount for returning STRIVE alums. For more details on the early-bird discounts and prices, click here.
STRIVE-Peru 2015: June 27th to July 17th, 2015
STRIVE Spanish Immersion Program: June 22nd to June 28th, 2015
STRIVE-Kenya 2015: July 19th to August 8th, 2015
STRIVE Forward
The STRIVE organization continues to be busy in the offseason. We are currently working on completing a partnership with a website designed specifically for high school athletes looking to be involved in athletics in college. We’ll let you know more details when we finalize the process on our end.
Our projects and partners in country continue to be hard at work serving their surrounding communities. Wesley Korir, founder of the Kenyan Kids Foundation that our 2014 STRIVE group worked with this past summer was featured in the new documentary, Transcend. The film details Wesley’s incredible life story, following his youth in an impoverished part of rural Kenya to studying at an American University, to his success as a professional marathon runner – WINNING the Boston Marathon in 2012 – and then finally returning to Kenya to serve his people by running as an independent candidate as a Member of Parliament (and winning). It’s a truly inspirational story and a great film. Moreover, a portion of the proceeds go towards the Kenyan Kids Foundation, so it’s really win-win. Check out the film’s website where you can download/stream the film.
For prospective STRIVErs, we will once again be providing scholarships of our own for 2015 programs to families from around the world a chance to take part in such an amazing experience. If you are interested in applying for a scholarship or know someone who might be a good applicant, please visit our STRIVE Scholarship Program page. We hope to continue to grow our scholarship program each year and look to the STRIVE community to help us meet our goals. If you’d like to support the STRIVE Scholarship Program, please donate at our fundraising page. Thanks to all our applicants, participants and supporters. You are what makes STRIVE special.
The STRIVE College Intern Program
The STRIVE College Intern program has already accepted one new intern into our class of 2015 and applications are coming in left and right for the remaining open spots. Keep in mind that spots for the STRIVE College Intern Program are both extremely limited and competitive and applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Remember that we have positions in both Kenya AND Peru this year. Don’t wait to apply for an experience you won’t soon forget. If you’ve been a STRIVE intern before, ask about discounted pricing for STRIVE intern alums.
College interns have it all – amazing training opportunities, real-life service work, a valuable internship working with teens, and incredible cultural immersion in one of the most beautiful places on Earth!
Leave A Comment