Brian Beer
Hometown: New Providence, NJ
Education: University of Colorado at Boulder - B.A. in Journalism (News-Editorial track)
Leadership Experience: Former president Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership." This quote is especially applicable to me because once, when I was probably 10, I accidentally smacked my 7-year-old neighbor in the forehead with a wooden baseball bat when we were playing some backyard ball. I'd like to think that my leadership experience started here, as I was wrought with guilt at being so careless around this younger chap (he was one of seven kids in the house next to mine, all of them younger). I realized that I was supposed to be a role model to these impressionable youngsters, not a bat-wielding menace. So I took my wide-eyed neighbors under my wing and taught them all I knew: how to play roller-hockey, how to eat a hot slice of pizza without burning the roof of your mouth, how to con your parents into letting you stay up an extra half-hour on school nights, and how to make the biggest splash by doing can-openers into the pool. After imparting this essential childhood knowledge, I watched my neighbors grow into happy, intelligent, open-minded, wonderful young people. At the ripe age of 11, my leadership education had begun.
Since then, I've undergone much more formal training. Before college, I went on a 30-day backcountry excursion in Wyoming with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), the last four days of which I served as a small-group leader responsible for bringing a four-man crew from the middle of nowhere to a designated spot, in civilization, where the rest of our crew was waiting for us. Around the same time, I worked as a tutor at a Score Educational Center, helping kids ages 4-14 improve their math, reading and writing. During two of my summer vacations in college, I served as a counselor at a summer camp in New Jersey. When I studied abroad in New Zealand in the spring of 2008, I volunteered to co-lead a trip with my university's tramping (the Kiwi word for hiking) club. This spring, I'll be finishing up my certification as a Wilderness First Responder before leading my first AAVE trip a few weeks later - an opportunity I'm thrilled to be presented with.
I truly love working with and helping people of all ages, and could not be more excited about this upcoming summer. As a trip leader, I'm confident that I'll be able to help my campers learn - and learn from them - en-route to everyone involved having one of the best summers ever.
What AAVE means to me?: As a freshman and sophomore in high school, I went on two AAVE trips around the four-corner states. I credit the awesome leaders I had on those trips, as well as the downright mind-blowing physical terrain we adventured through, for turning me onto the outdoors and the American West in general. So whether I lead a trip in Thailand, Hawaii, or Colorado, I'm pumped for the chance to pass my love of the outdoors to my campers. From experience, I also know that being in a group of 12 people for 25 days straight leads to some tight bonds being formed. I'm eager to instill this sense of camaraderie and companionship in my group so that my campers can take home with them the same type of meaningful relationships that I carried away from my trips.
Favorite Quote: "I want no inquiries made. I want no acts of vengeance. This war stops here." - Don Vito Corleone, from Mario Puzo's novel
The Perfect Day: It's late June. First, I wake up and run 10 miles or something cool like that. Then I bring my stereo out to the porch and start blasting some Van Halen or Earthless (anything that gets the blood flowing), and, under that sweltering summer sun, start bench pressing like 300 pounds, or however much I'm feeling that day (I'm also grunting really loudly at this point so all the neighbors know I'm lifting a ton of weight). Then, around 1 p.m., some of my jabronie friends roll by and we all pile into someone's car and head off to some sweet deli for some truly monstrous sandwiches. Lemme' break it down for you: Nine-grain wheat roll, tons of guacamole, maybe some pepper-encrusted roasted turkey breast, some smoked-honey ham, some awesome slices of pepperjack cheese, definitely some juicy Roma tomatoes, crispy romaine lettuce, a couple crunch-tastic red onions, a few ripe black olives for good measure, and then maybe some southwest chipotle mayo or something equally rad, to top it all off. Then, after we all devour our collective sandwiches, we hit up a choice swimming hole: hucking off cliffs, soaking in the sun, swinging on ropes, all that good stuff. Then, around six, when the water starts getting cool, we hike back out and then I join up some other knuckleheads in a garage somewhere, where we turn the guitar amps up to 11 and start unleashing waves of sonic fury so intense that the walls start exploding. Literally, we're so incendiary that the garage doors blow away. After apologizing to the neighbors, I meet up with some more good friends by a campfire somewhere, talking about the glories of days of yore and the brightness of days to come. Then I go to sleep so I can wake up the next morning and do it all again.
Dream Job: If there was some kind of job where I got paid to take groups of teenagers on summer outdoors trips around America, or maybe even other cool international locations like Australia, I'd be all for that. But as far as I know, no such job exists, so I'll have to go with professional rocker or NFL tight end.
Dream Vacation: Anywhere with great friends. Preferably somewhere with some sweet sun, tons of snow, rollicking topography, exquisite wines, lush jungles, killer waves, ancient ruins, friendly smiles, eternal sunsets, or endless high-country vistas.
What I do when I'm not at AAVE: Tearing my heart out for the New York Mets or Giants, playing guitar with some pals, jumping into swimming holes, ripping 20-foot cliffs at Vail, catching some live tunes, spending quality time with the fam, slapping high-fives with my best buds, noshing on some loaded burritos, playing some classic NewJersey-style stickball, and generally doing whatever it takes to ensure that I and everyone around me is having the best time possible.
