The Caltech Y is one of the most well-known clubs on campus. As a registered nonprofit, the Y’s mission is to “enrich student life and challenge students to grow into responsible citizens of the world.” This takes place in many forms, ranging from service activities, such as tutoring local students and volunteering at the Union Station Homeless Center, to outdoor camping trips, to trips around the world to learn about other cultures.
I’ve been part of the Caltech Y for about a year now and have helped organize some really cool events — hopefully with many more to come!
The first event I organized with the Caltech Y was a trip to see the LA Philharmonic, one of the first things I put on my California bucket list that I made after committing to Caltech. The LA Phil’s venue, Walt Disney Concert Hall, is renown for good reason — the acoustics were amazing, and the hall itself was gorgeous.
We saw the first performance of The Observatory, an LA Philharmonic commissioned piece, as well as George Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra (made famous from 2001: A Space Odyssey).
Another event I helped organize was our annual Make-A-Difference (MAD) Day, which is a day of service to the local community. About 100 people from the Caltech community came together to volunteer at local sites, such as food banks or community gardens. I helped organize a small site to Friends in Deed, a local nonprofit. We helped sort out donated food and supplies and clean storage crates. It was a great way to not only take a break from school, but also to give back to the community.
The Caltech Y also has an abundance of outdoor events, ranging from short day hikes to longer camping trips. One of our most well-known events is the Pre-Orientation Yosemite hike, where we spend 4 days (3 nights) in Yosemite National Park in the days before freshman & grad student orientation. I wasn’t able to go in my first year, but I went on the hike in my sophomore year as a leader.
The first day, we went backpacking — it was actually my first time, and this was a great first experience. It was on the cloudy side, but thankfully we didn’t run into too much rain. We hiked about 8 miles with about 2,000 feet of elevation on the Ten Lakes trail. The next two days, we camped in the Yosemite Valley and hiked the Mist Trail, about 6 miles. It was super rainy, which definitely made the hike a bit slippery and scary — but also a lot more fun.
We did get blessed with clear skies on our very last day, though, which meant we could see El Capitan and Half Dome, two of the most famous rock formations in Yosemite. The Yosemite trip was a great experience — I made friends with many grad students and freshmen. Despite the rain, it was still a whole lot of fun (and the rain might’ve made it more exciting!).
