This past spring break, I traveled with Wharton Leadership Ventures (WLV) on the Highlands Traverse Expedition in Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador.
The venture was divided into a 3-day preparation period followed by a 4-day traverse. Given that the purpose of the venture is to cultivate leadership skills and introduce students to backpacking, the preparation period revolved around gear checks, workshops, and team-building exercises. Workshops spanned from navigation with a map and compass to personal hygiene in the wild and food safety. Team-building exercises helped unite us, balancing different personalities, preferences, and goals for the journey.
These pre-expedition activities were guided by two student Venture Fellows and a group of local guides sharing their expertise in the field. Having grown up in a city and having no backpacking experience, I found these preparatory workshops immensely helpful. While I started the trip worried that I would not be able to keep up with the group or know how to guide my peers, I began the actual “expedition” portion with cautious confidence and excitement.
Day 1 began with an early bus to an uncharted dirt path where our adventure would start. I remember sitting in the bus alongside my group, thinking about why I’d chosen to come to Ecuador for spring break. I made the choice rather late one night, driven by a curiosity to explore and challenge myself both mentally and physically. However, even before we started trekking, I realized I would get much more than accomplishment and knowledge out of the trip.
Over the next few days, we traversed between Cotopaxi and Antisana, two stratovolcanoes. As I experienced silence and sound again and again, I’d learn what it meant to move as a unit, to guide my thoughts and actions with empathy and grace, to rediscover and redefine compassion, and to feel my senses come alive.
We began each day with oatmeal and wrapped up each night with an after-action review (AAR), discussing what we did well and what we could improve on. The leader of the day would receive feedback from the group on their leadership style and personal goals. These built-in pockets for discussion and reflection helped cultivate a sense of closeness and psychological safety within the group. We all started as strangers, and a week later, we were companions, teammates, and friends.
The Wharton curriculum is designed to cultivate future business leaders. We learn valuable skills and knowledge, from marketing and legal studies to accounting and finance. Participating in this WLV Expedition allowed me to see managerial practices and theories we discuss in the classroom in practice and led me to ponder a new question: how do we, as present and future leaders, build culture?
It’s a question I’ve sought to answer since being in Ecuador and it feels extra real now that I’m back. Each time I seek to answer this question, I’m brought back to the parting words of one of our guides. As he shared his journey of finding his place as a mountain guide and recovering from a recent injury, he spoke about how far and loud compassion rings. To me, that signifies the beginning of the answer—we cultivate culture by leading with compassion and waiting for it to ripple out and touch others the same way it touched us.
The value of co-curricular activities lies in dimensionality and humanness. We often try to “crack the code” to optimize our education and get the most out of our time in university. I see it in myself, and I see it in my friends. And, while our in-classroom experiences are immensely enriching and deepen our knowledge endlessly, I believe co-curricular activities to be just as necessary as they build breathing spaces that complement and balance the academic experience, one step at a time.
—Jaein Kim, W’25
Posted: May 14, 2025
