The thought of jumping from high altitudes puts some people on edge, but this past Saturday 22 students put their fears behind them, defied death, and leapt from 9500 feet up in the wild blue yonder.
Arriving in the sleepy town of Duanseberg, NY, the fearless group unloaded and prepared for its skydiving expedition. With nervousness and excitement pulsing through their veins, the daredevils suited up and took to the skies.
"I've always wanted to go skydiving. It's one of those things you've always wanted to do, but never thought you really would," said Kim Starbuck, a junior taking her first jump.
Junior Sarah Matsuzaka agreed with Starbuck. "I've always wanted to [skydive]. I'm a believer in pushing your body physically to the point where it affects you mentally," she said, adding that she was also looking for a spiritual experience of sorts.
Starbuck explained that there are two kinds of jumps: tandem and static line. The tandem, she said, is a free fall jump with the first-time jumper harnessed to a more experienced one, while the static line is a solo plunge without the free fall. She decided to take the former going on the assumption that it was less frightening than jumping by herself.
Though Starbuck was nervous right before her dive, she said there were few options. "You can't chicken out, there's no chickening out, you just have to do it," she said.
Matsuzaka felt differently. "I thought I was going to pee in my pants when the door opened, but I didn't feel that way," she said, explaining her polar opposite reaction to the jump. "I wasn't scared in the least bit, I was actually really calm," she said.
Starbuck explained that despite the pre-jump jitters, she ended up sharing Matsuzaka's calmness. "There's no fear left. It's just awesome," she said in retrospect.
Both explained the unique feeling. "It's not the roller coaster, stomach plunging to the floor feeling. It's the sensation of flying, [and] it's every kid's dream to fly," Matsuzaka said.
"You go into sensory overload; your brain kind of shuts off. You go into a pure feeling - not thinking," she said.
Starbuck echoed Matsuzaka's sentiments. "You don't feel like you're falling, you just feel like you're flying in air," Starbuck said.
Having survived the jump, Matsuzaka explained that the thrill has yet to wear off. "I've been on the biggest high ever since. You can see my smile from 300 yards away, or maybe even 9500 feet up in the sky."
Now an experienced diver, Starbuck said nobody should write off the sport. "It's something that anybody could do. You just have to get yourself out of the plane."
Having found a company that offers a reasonable price for dives - $150 a pop - Tufts Mountain Club member senior Eddie Galbavy said that the group plans to take students again. In the meantime, there will be plenty of other exciting events, he said. "We've [got] a lot of ideas, and [we're] trying a lot of things," he said, noting that the group plans on hosting a paint ball tourney and a mystery bike trip in the near future.
