TTC Captain: Maris Raisch
Maris Raisch, a second-year mechanical engineering student at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), has been combining her love of cycling, engineering, and trail stewardship since her early days with the SoMont Cheltenham team in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League (PICL). Over seven years as a student-athlete, she discovered her passion for trail work through her team’s weekly volunteer days and experiences at GRIT and TTC camps.
“Those camps helped me see that trail stewardship goes beyond trimming branches — it also means building new trails and creating lasting spaces for my community.”
Maris’s biggest project to date was the Twinning Valley project, where she helped design a multi-use park on a former golf course. When the township asked her team for input on the space, Maris—then a TTC Captain—stepped up to draft a detailed proposal. She focused on creating trails with progressive skills features to help young riders develop confidence and technique. Her designs were used to secure a bid from a professional trail-building company, which completed the first phase of trails in 2023.
Maris faced challenges at first, especially finding the confidence to voice her ideas and collaborate with township officials and trail groups. But the TTC camp had taught her outreach and leadership skills, like writing trail reports and communicating with landowners, which helped her grow into the role. Today, she credits her experience on the Twinning Valley project with giving her soft skills—like public speaking and teamwork—that have carried over into her engineering studies and helped her earn a leadership position on RIT’s cycling club board.
“Whatever you’re interested in, there will be others who share that passion.”
For current PICL athletes thinking about TTC Captain Projects, Maris encourages them to follow their interests, no matter how unconventional they may seem. By leaning into her own love of technical features and rock gardens, Maris created trails that reflected her unique vision and inspired others to see trail stewardship in a new way. Her story shows that building trails also builds confidence, community, and a sense of belonging—on and off the bike.