Responsibilities

As a Strive intern you will have many roles and responsibilities including, but not limited to:

Service. Strive is a service learning program for athletes, and thus, the service always comes first. This means service comes before training; every once in a while you might have to get up a bit earlier to complete your training if we have a full day of meetings or projects. We are committed to both educating our interns and high schoolers about responsible, ethical service and helping to make a positive, lasting impact on the communities in which we work. You’ll spend around 2-4 hours per day learning about and later planning, preparing, and undertaking a variety of projects. Bringing an open mind and positive attitude to these projects is a must.

Mentorship: For interns taking part in the Mentorship Program (i.e. when Strive high school students are present), an important part of the intern experience is acting as a mentor for these younger Strivers. Each and every one of our high schoolers looks up to you as a role model and has a million questions about college, athletics, or life in general. Each day we ask that you be available to run/exercise/play sports with our students (one morning session and one afternoon session). Please keep in mind that if you are a college athlete, these runs or workouts may be less rigorous than what you are used to and this may be another example of where your personal training will come second. Additionally, we’ll have activities in the evenings which you guys will help organize and lead; these might be watching a movie, playing cards, or even a swing-dance lesson (if you feel like teaching it)! The final mentoring responsibility will be giving a “Strive-talk” to your fellow interns and the group of high school students. This is your opportunity to have the floor where you’ll choose a topic that’s meaningful to you and give a short talk and Q&A session – always a highlight for interns, Strivers, and staff alike.

Social Media. An important part of Strive is sharing what we are doing on the ground (the service learning, travel, and daily program life) with family and friends of current Strivers as well as past and future participants. You will have a turn at the helm of the blog and Facebook/Instagram/Twitter feeds, which should be updated on a daily basis. A second portion of our social media is getting video clips and photos of you and our kids exercising, teaching, or simply answering questions about their experience with Strive.

Exploration/Research. Get out and explore! Scouting out new hiking trails, running routes, and activities around town that the whole group can take advantage of will be an integral part of your role. We might even send you on a research mission to find a tractor that we can rent for a project we’re working on or (if you speak Spanish) to the next town over to be interviewed on the radio about an upcoming event we’re hosting. Having extra minds around to help us solve problems is an invaluable part of our intern program.

Training. Finally, for some of you, the most important part. You will have the incredible opportunity to train in one of the most idyllic settings on this planet. Living and training at altitude (and boosting your aerobic ability) and training on soft surfaces all summer are just some of many benefits of training as a Strive intern. We hope that you’ll not only get fit but also learn about training from our coaching staff and from each other.

We’ve had Strivers run up to 140 miles/week but keep in mind that running that much at high altitude is going to wear you out and you will be need to be extra careful that you are getting enough sleep and food. Most of our interns fall somewhere in the 30-90 miles per week range and find that it’s pretty easy to get that amount of training in per week. Keep in mind that training is optional. If you simply want to be a part of our service program and help us mentor students, that’s just fine with us.

Outreach. Before your time in Peru or Kenya, we’ll ask you to do some outreach to help share Strive’s mission and goals with other student athletes who might be interested in the program. This could be as simple as having a conversation with your high school coach or something more formal like hosting an info session in your hometown. It should be fun and relaxed and mostly an opportunity for you to share your excitement about your upcoming internship with Strive!

Food and Lodging

In Kenya, interns will stay at the world-famous High Altitude Training Center (HATC), alongside world-class athletes from around the world. Rooms have private bathrooms and are shared with other interns. Use of all the HATC facilities and meals are included with your program fee.

The setting is beautiful and the common-spaces (courtyards, living rooms, etc.) make for great places to relax, so you likely won’t spend a ton of time in your room.  The more time spent exploring the HATC and surrounding area, the more likely you are to “bump” into David Rudisha or others as many Kenyan athletes train in and around Iten while preparing for races.

You will be eating three meals per day at the HATC with food locally sourced and prepared fresh by a Kenyan chef. Food options will vary but expect a healthy amount of rice, veggies, and fruit. There is typically a soup/salad bar at each meal along with a main dish and there are often second helpings available. A staple food of Kenya, Ugali, a dense filler somewhere in between bread and rice will be available at almost all meals and is a must try while in Kenya.

This will be enough food to fill you up at meals but it may not be enough if you are planning on running 70+ miles per week. If you are running that much, you should expect to supplement with some snacks from town or that you’ve brought from home.

Typical Day

The following are a few examples of what an average day will look like while you are on the ground and part of our programs. Keep in mind that your schedule will vary from day to day and come prepared with an eagerness to learn and be open-minded and flexible.  Remember that you will be visiting, serving and living in a place that is likely very culturally different from home. Plan to be busy while in country as your days will be filled with activities, service projects, workshops and much, much more.  Daily schedules are similar in Peru and Kenya.  We, at Strive, are committed to ensuring all of our participants have a wonderful time and with that in mind each group will be able to craft their daily and weekend schedules to some extent.  We welcome and value feedback, and as long as your ideas and suggestions align with the values and mission of Strive, we will do everything we can to make sure those activities and ideas are put into action.

Note: Weekend schedules will generally look a lot different and will likely include a day trip to an exciting location or occasionally a rest and relaxation day to regroup from a busy week of service, athletics and adventure.