The following article was published by Climbforchange on June 16, 2013
I love it when people step up to the plate and use their personal passion and skill to help others reach their potential. And my new friend and fellow climber, Denis Mikhailov, is doing just that. He’s rallied a team of twelve students together (the number to date…the team keeps growing!!) for an outdoor challenge, not only to climb one of Vancouver’s iconic mountains, but also to raise funds for charity.The Beedie MBA Climb the Lions team will be the first MBA class in Vancouver to lead a charity climb!
So I caught up with Denis who’s a MBA Candidate at Beedie School of Business and President of the Graduate Business Student Association, and here’s what he had to say about his upcoming July 6 climb and the inspiration behind it:
For me personally, ever since I was a little kid, I’ve loved the outdoors. I’m an adventure seeker and thrill seeker at heart, and I believe this is what balances me between my professional and personal life. Adventure is that medium that gives me the opportunity to go out and explore the world. To me getting outside is always an amazing experience, and one of personal growth. If I can share that with others, I will go out of my way to make that possible.
And this is how the whole idea for this Beedie MBA charity climb came about – an opportunity to take my fellow MBA classmates out on an adventure to hike up to the Lions – the two iconic mountain peaks of Vancouver. And at the same time, we’re turning this into a community leadership project by raising money for Power To Be Adventure Therapy Soceity. This way, we’re not only challenging ourselves in the outdoors, but we’re also supporting outdoor adventure programs for our local youth and families that otherwise would not have a chance to learn and grow in nature.
It will also help us with our journey here at Beedie School of Business doing our MBA – there are a lot of challenges we take on in our classes and many of them are actually team based. So we’re dealing with people from different backgrounds, cultures and ideologies – and any way that we can further our growth together as a team, and achieve something together, is important for our personal and overall class development. So an adventure, such as our upcoming charity climb up the Lions is ideal.
Thank you Denis and team for leading the charge on this very important community initiative! Climb on!
To follow Denis and the Beedie MBAs in their charity climb, and support the cause, check out theBeedie MBA Climb the Lions campaign site and watch the teaser:
Click here to visit the article in its entirely on Climbforchange