51³Ô¹Ï

This piece is part of our Senior Stories series, in which we highlight GU 51³Ô¹Ïs throughout the year.

Name: Sofia Garcia Gahan
Studies: Psychology
Hometown: Madrid, Spain

Sofia Garcia Gahan’s life had always been filled with outdoor adventures.

“Both my parents are incredibly outdoorsy. Even though they’re supposed to be old and it's supposed to be hard for them, they were always much better than me,” Garcia Gahan laughed.

In 2020, when Garcia Gahan was supposed to start college, the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged her to take a gap year, which is when she started doing things outdoors she had never done before.

“My dad took me canyoneering to all the places he used to go in college, and we went climbing and we went backpacking,” said Garcia Gahan. “That year was filled with new activities and experiences.”

After a year of adventure, Garcia Gahan wanted an independent experience somewhere else, so she applied to universities in her mother’s home state of Washington, before landing on Gonzaga. Her love of the outdoors moved with her from Spain to Spokane, as she began her freshman year a world away from home.

“I was looking for a community where I could do things outside, so I applied to live in Marion,” said Garcia Gahan.

Marion Hall, the Outdoor Pursuits LLC on campus, has close ties to Gonzaga Outdoors, which is how Garcia Gahan was introduced to the organization.

“The GU Outdoor residents in Marian encouraged me to apply to be a trip leader,” said Garcia Gahan. “At first, I wasn’t sure if it was for me. I liked being outside, but I wasn’t sure about taking other people outside.”

However, after some more encouragement, Garcia Gahan went for it.

Aside from a written application, the trip leader position requires a full day interview, where Garcia Gahan recalls that she was first asked questions by a group of current 51³Ô¹Ï workers, then asked to present a prepared lesson and then was tasked with completing a puzzle with other candidates.

Her prepared lesson?

“I taught three separate Spanish phrases that all involve milk in them.”

“I didn’t feel comfortable teaching something outdoor related, I wanted them to know that I spoke Spanish, and I’ve always been made fun of for the amount of milk I drink,” explained Garcia Gahan. “I felt like it was a good introduction to me.”

The GU Outdoors staff agreed.

“A few days later, I got a call, and it said it was from Gonzaga University, and I was like ‘oh geez, what did I do?”

She answered the phone to a chorus of older trip leaders, congratulating her on getting the job, and she has been a part of the team ever since.

“I’m still surprised I got it three years later,” she said.

Garcia Gahan, now a GU Outdoors veteran, is a head trip leader, in charge of organizing activities and teaching other 51³Ô¹Ï workers how to be trip leaders.

Her love of outdoor adventure has been a steady thrum throughout her college experience and has often gone hand-in-hand with her academics.

Garcia Gahan declared as a psychology major her freshman year, inspired by her love of studying interpersonal relationships.

After graduation, she hopes to combine her education and her love of the outdoors in Denver.

After over three years with the program, Garcia Gahan is full of good outdoors stories.

She recalled one trek to Little Spar Lake, Montana, where two people fell into the creek on what was supposed to be an easy crossing. AllTrails, a hiking app, had also undersold the trail milage, and they didn’t make it to the campsite until 9 p.m., in the complete dark and still damp from the creek.

But they layered up, and the night was so clear they could see the Milky Way.

“We had a book to read them, so I read them a book while the other two trip leaders were making them brownies.”

“In the end, it was full of magic and surprises.”

Garcia Gahan still views that trip as one of her favorites. 

She recently finished interviews for open trip leader positions, the same process she had been a part of as a freshman, and she recalled that many of the applicants had asked her what her favorite part of GU Outdoors was.

She responded to them with this anecdote:

“Every winter we have trip leader training. It’s our snow camping training, and obviously we’re learning things, but mostly, we were just playing in the snow and having fun and feeling like children. And it's in those moments where you realize, ‘this is all of our favorite thing, we’re all doing what we love the most, together.”