Student Life Archives

Margaret Bauer

As summer draws to a close, the class of 2008 is poised to embark on a four-year adventure. For some students, this adventure will begin with a 6-day backpacking and team building excursion in southern Illinois as they take part in the Wilderness Project, a pre-orientation program sponsored by Washington University’s Outing Club. After classes begin, the Outing Club will continue to offer students the chance to experience the great Midwestern outdoors.

Since the 1970s, the Outing Club has been exploring the wild world outside the Wash. U. bubble; with a variety of excursions throughout the year that include camping, backpacking, canoeing and rock climbing, the OC just might be the perfect remedy for school-related stress.

“When a student starts to feel bogged down with studies, sometimes the most cathartic thing for him or her is a temporary change of environment and pace,” said president James Meldrum, a senior.

Even the Girl/Boy Scout dropouts among us are welcome to join.

“There are many trips that require nothing more than an interest in sleeping under the stars at night, or perhaps a willingness to learn some new skills and pitch into the efforts of a group,” Meldrum insisted. “At the same time, nearly all of the trips will provide entertainment to even the most experienced outdoor enthusiast.”

The OC also offers clinics pertaining to wilderness and survival skills and maintains a large gear storeroom to make sure everyone is equipped to enjoy its events.

The most important preparation for participants, however, is a willingness to embrace surprises.

“Many of my great memories involve things such as getting stuck in the middle of thunderstorms with the tent sitting in two inches of water, finding myself three miles from the trailhead at nightfall with only the expertise of the trip leader to guide me through a thrilling hike in the dark, or having to constantly sing or bang pots to notify the hunters in the woods that we are hikers and not a herd of deer,” Meldrum reminisced.

The OC remains active over the summer, offering events for those in the St. Louis area and planning events for the coming year.

For information, visit http://www.restech.wustl.edu/~outing.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 31st, 2004 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.