Adventure In Adventure OutFOOT – Upcoming First-Year Outdoor Orientation Trips with Amherst College
If the image above looks familiar to you and you can’t figure out why, look no further than our homepage! We thought that this was a fitting way to design the logo for this year’s FOOT Program shirts! It will be appearing on the back of the Amherst College t-shirts that new students will be wearing as they venture off on their FOOT trips during their college orientation.
We’ve been running the FOOT program with Amherst College for many years now. These First-Year Outdoor Orientation Trips help build a strong foundation of community and self awareness for first year students at Amherst College. We take students on a handful of different trips, including 3-day overnight expeditions and medleys that consist of several day trips. We also work together on a team with student leaders who are upperclassman at Amherst College. We help them out by showing them some tools-of-the-trade, but these enthusiastic student leaders always take ownership of their role as a trip leader and as someone who can help new students become acquainted with the ins and outs of college life. A lot of the time these student leaders were on FOOT trips at the beginning of their first year!
The following are the expeditions that will be going out this year, and a few photos from past year’s trips.
Advanced Backpacking: Students make rich memories with one another as they summit peaks, pitch tents each evening, gather firewood, cook meals, pack backpacks, filter water, share stories around the fire, make s’mores and play cards beneath the stars. They hike high along the Appalachian Trail following the scenic Taconic Range in Mount Washington State Forest.
Canoeing: Students get out on the water for a canoe expedition, navigating the scenic flatwaters of the Connecticut River that wind through gorges and farmlands in Vermont and Massachusetts. Participants are entirely self-sufficient, packing their gear in the canoes and camping in picturesque campsites along the river banks. With plenty of opportunities to get wet, play river games, and connect with canoeing partners, this is always an unforgettable trip.
Eco-Service Project: Students enjoy the wonder of the outdoors while contributing in a way that will impact others’ ability to share that experience for years to come. Students make memories and take pride in a legacy with their peers through the contributions that they make together.
Rock-Climbing: Rock climbing and rappelling is a sport that challenges one’s own perceived physical and mental limits and demonstrates in real-time their ability, tenacity and resilience. The locations that students visit offer a variety of routes that meet any ability – beginner to advanced. They spend time in purposeful and supportive communication with their group members as they belay new friends and scale the walls above.
We also have 7 medley trips going out, where students will spend each day of FOOT doing a different activity. The variety of activities we do in the medley trips include Hiking, Kayaking, Canoeing, Primitive Living Skills, Eco-Service.
One of the beautiful outcomes of FOOT for us here at AIAO is that we frequently hear about students who meet on their FOOT trips and cultivate relationships that turn into long lasting friendships that they keep throughout their college career. We are very excited to run another round of transformational FOOT trips this year, and can’t wait to see how these new students will rise to the occasion – they always do!