RECognition: Ian McGregor, Outback Adventures
Recreation's monthly series to highlight and celebrate our staff
By Shawn Cyr
Assistant Marketing Director
Ian McGregor has big goals.
And to accomplish them, he’s thinking small. Microscopic, even.
The son of an engineer father, McGregor, a fourth-year in Seventh College, always wanted to be an engineer, since he always enjoyed math and puzzles. It wasn’t until his junior year of high school — when he got to do his own tests on mock patient samples at an oncology clinic to determine what treatment was required — that he found his specific calling.
“I loved seeing how the body worked and how we could manipulate it to improve people's health,” he says. “I've always been driven to do something that improves lives on a large scale, and this was a great way to do it.”
Now, he’s in his fourth year at UC San Diego, majoring in nanoengineering with the ultimate goal of working on the business side of bioengineering.
“I have a lot of ideas or fields that I want to work in (oncology, prosthetics, neurology), and it would allow me to manage multiple projects with the knowledge to help the teams I build work together,” he says. “That freedom would allow me to say, ‘Hey, there isn't a cure or prevention or treatment to poison oak — let’s fix that,’ and actually get it done.
“For now, I am waiting to see if I got into the joint BS/MS nanoengineering program that would keep me at UCSD an extra year.”
In the meantime, Ian will continue pursuing one of his other passions: exploring the outdoors. As a lead guide and Challenge Course facilitator with Recreation’s Outback Adventures program, Ian plans and leads students on outdoor expeditions — single-day and overnight trips — for students, including backpacking, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, and (of course) surfing. Most recently, he led a surfing trip in Baja California to Punta Cabras and Punta San Jacinto.
“The most rewarding moments were those where the people I had been giving tips to managed to stand up and ride the wave,” Ian says. “I nearly threw my shoulder out splashing water into the air. I can't lie, the waves this last trip were also really sweet and let me get some of my own riding in as well.”
Ian’s go-getter attitude is infectious and welcome. Tessa Opperman, Outdoor Leadership Coordinator, says Ian “is always ready to jump in whenever needed. He’s also eager to learn and grow.”
Those leadership seeds were sewn during Ian’s time with REC’s Wilderness Orientation program as a freshman. It was then that he decided to become a guide so he could “show other people the magic of the outdoors.”
“My other favorite memories are sitting around the campfire making s'mores, sleeping under the stars in a remote place, watching the Milky Way drift by, and seeing all of the participants on the trip building their own independence in the skills we were teaching them,” he says.
He also loves rock climbing, both indoors — mainly at Mesa Rim in Mira Mesa or Mission Valley — and outdoors. He’s climbed at El Cajon (“terrifying, might not have it in me to do it again”), Pine Mountain (“absolutely beautiful forested area with some unique climbs”), and the Holcolm Valley Pinnacles near Big Bear. Outback Adventures runs climbing trips in the Mission Gorge area throughout the year, and it’s Ian’s goal to go there on his own time this year.
“Climbing keeps me fit, always challenges me, and gives me a chance to hang out with all the amazing people I have met while climbing,” he says.
