Club and Intramural Sports at Pitzer

After playing with a club soccer team since third grade, I reluctantly decided to stop playing when I began college. Sports had always been a big part of my life, from childhood through high school, where I played soccer, ran track, and swam for the swim team.  However, by college, I felt burnt out and nervous about the academic workload. I was initially surprised at the amount of time I had when I wasn’t playing soccer every weekend and traveling miles away for tournaments.

Unfortunately, I quickly learned how boring it is to run on a treadmill and I really missed being part of a team. In an effort to fill the soccer-shaped hole in my heart, I decided to try out for Club Field Hockey. I had never played field hockey before but my mom played in college, and she was excited about it. I heard the formations and general idea was similar to soccer, but after my first week of field hockey, I could safely say this is not true, at least not for me. Sprinting in a skirt and holding a stick (that was much heavier than it looked), I felt like a fish out of water, I was pretty terrible at field hockey and ended up quitting after the first season.

Throughout my first year at Pitzer, I played intramural inner tube water polo with my friends from my first year orientation trip and intramural soccer. I tried my best to hop on hiking and backpacking trips with friends through Pitzer Outdoor Adventures. I also went to free workout classes around the 5Cs with my roommate like Zumba and dance. When I discovered the physical education classes on the course catalog, I took yoga, swimming, kickboxing, and tennis!

Intramural Inner Tube Water Polo

I got involved with a class called Tennis and Community Engagement, where I could practice and instruct tennis in underserved school districts as part of an after school program.  It was easy to practice social responsibility, one of Pitzer’s core values, when I was doing something I loved.  While I learned how many opportunities for physical activity the 5Cs had to offer, I still missed the team culture I had with my soccer team growing up. My search ended at the beginning of my sophomore year when I found out the Women’s Club Soccer program was restarting. After fighting for funding, space, and resources, our team became well established and now plays in the West Coast Soccer Association.  I definitely saw student engagement in action when I saw Claremont students working with administration to reestablish this club.

Claremont FC at Channel Islands this November.

The team, Claremont FC, has been such an important part of my college experience. Not only is the team competitive and my skills improved, it’s incredibly empowering to be surrounded by such strong and smart women on a regular basis. I feel very grateful to spend time on and off the field with my teammates. Moreover, it’s been a fantastic opportunity to meet people from the other colleges. Claremont FC has provided me, as the other club sports teams have provided Pitzer students, with the ideal athletic community — one which is competitive but allows enough time to concentrate on school work and be involved with other campus organizations. As a senior and the current captain of Claremont FC, I can say my experience with this team and these people has meant the world to me.

In my last year at Pitzer, I’m also still taking PE tennis classes and finding opportunities to be active outdoors. One of my favorite things about Pitzer is that you don’t have to be part of a varsity team to be an athlete! With countless opportunities to play sports through free classes at the Gold Student Center, PE courses, club, or varsity sports, Pitzer is a great place to let your competitive side out!


Posted by Natalie Honan ’17

Meet Livvy ’18!

Hello hello! My name is Livvy and I’m a student tour guide at Pitzer College. I’m stoked to be contributing to this blog with posts about my experiences as a Pitzer student. So here is a little bit about me!

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  1. I’m a sophomore living in Mead (the apartment style residence hall on campus covered in colorful murals).
  2. I’m from Boulder, Colorado so the mountains feel like home to me.
  3. I’m (potentially) a Sociology major with a dance minor… and maybe some gender studies thrown in the mix!
  4. You can usually find me reading a book in the shade on the Mounds, making a yummy fried egg sandwich while working at the Grove House (our sammies are seriously legendary), attempting headstands in a yoga class, having a spontaneous dance party, or trying to dismantle the patriarchy in a Feminist Coalition meeting.
  5. On the weekends, I like to explore outside, whether it’s rock climbing in Joshua Tree, hiking in the desert, or playing in the waves at a beach. I usually go on these trips with Pitzer Outdoor Adventures Club!

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When I think about, Pitzer has played a huge part in shaping who I am as a person. I can’t wait to share my stories of Pitzer with you! <3 Livvy


Posted by Livvy Feeney ’18, Sociology

Feeney, Livvy

Home Sweet Home

It’s hard to believe, but I have actually stayed in the same city for the past two weeks! Now I know this doesn’t sound like a huge achievement, but just to give you an idea of what my life was like, for the past month I haven’t slept in my own bed for more than two nights in a row. So this was a nice relaxing break. I am sure the travel season of an admission counselor sounds exciting, staying in hotels, eating out every night and getting to see a ton of new places. To be honest, it is exciting and I still love my job, but every admission counselor I have met agrees, by the end of travel season eating out or ordering in isn’t appealing in the slightest and all you want is to cook your own meal, even if it is as simple as a salad.

Although it was nice to be home, it did get a little lonely since last weekend was fall break, so students weren’t on campus on Monday or Tuesday. This break is perfectly placed mid semester and gives students a chance to take a trip or just unwind after midterms. Fall break is also when a lot of outdoor trips take place.

This is a perfect chance for me to talk about one of my favorite clubs on campus, POA Pitzer Outdoor Adventures. This club has to do with any outdoor activity. Such as, beach trips, surfing, camping, hiking, kayaking and skiing and snowboarding. POA has a weekly meeting where students can propose trips or listen for trips. As long as two Pitzer students sign up and it is open for other Pitzer students they will reimburse the cost of gas. This last break there were trips to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park CA (this trip had 3 different groups totaling about 40 students), Big Sur CA, Point Reyes, CA (I heard they saw a ton of whales), Bryce Canyon, UT and San Onofre, CA. If you can’t tell I am a bit jealous and am trying to live vicariously through the students in the office.

Tomorrow I am off to Miami and will be attending the Miami International College Fair and the Palmer Trinity College Fair, so if you are going to be attending either of those events please stop by and say hello.

Just a quick reminder before I let you go, the early decision deadline and the Preview Pitzer Days are fast approaching. So if you are planning on applying ED, make sure to give that essay one last spell check before you send it in by Nov 15. Our Preview Pitzer days are on November 7 and 14. You can register for those events by going to our website https://www.pitzer.edu/admission/ and clicking on the link on the right hand side of the page.

And now the newest installment of WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CECIL THE SAGEHEN:

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Where is Cecil this week?

Posted by Danny Irving, Admission Counselor

Danny Leaps for joy