By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research/Communications Coordinator
Sherrilene Classen, Ph.D., professor and chair of the UF Department of Occupational Therapy, is an affiliate of the UFTI who, on May 29, 2025, accomplished the amazing achievement of reaching Mount Everest’s Base Camp at 17,600 feet in the Himalayas.
Coincidentally, May 29 was also the day when Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, successfully summited Everest 72 years ago. Classen, along with nine of her friends, traveled to this spectacular part of the world to experience the beauty and awe of Mount Everest and to reflect on the challenges that a person must overcome to lead and persevere through teamwork and determination.
“My most important reflection from this trip is that inspiration is gained when I am ascending heights while defeating limits,” Classen said. “Success is always dependent on great leadership and committed teamwork.”
After reaching Base Camp, the next morning, Classen and four of her friends, including a guide, trekked further up the mountain to an elevation of 18,500 feet, where they reached Kalapatter, a well-known viewpoint in the Nepali Himalayas.
“We left at 4:00 a.m. and were in awe as we witnessed a spectacular sunrise, revealing Everest in all her glory at 5.05 a.m.,” Classen said.
Classen’s experience is like a metaphor for the transportation industry because, just like it takes teamwork, determination, perseverance, leadership, a clear direction, and resilience to climb Mount Everest, it also takes the same qualities to conceptualize and build innovative transportation systems that work for everyone.
As an occupational therapist who focuses on ways to make driving and mobility safer for older adults and people with physical disabilities, Classen’s journey to Mount Everest’s Base Camp shows what transportation researchers work to accomplish every day: making sure the that the systems they create, the solutions they come up meet the needs of society.
See more images of Classen’s expedition below.
