Climb, kayak, canoe with Outdoor Adventure Program

Any plans for your spring break?

Then you might be interested in backpacking through the Grand Canyon for seven days with a group of students. If interested, call Greg Hawkins, the program’s coordinator, who said he along with a group of students plan to fly to Arizona for their spring break.

“Every year a group of students and I go backpacking in the Grand Canyon where we spend three nights and four days in the canyon and two nights on its south rim,” Hawkins said. “We will also be hiking in Havasu Canyon, Arizona, which is located on the Havasu Indian Reservation.”

For 20 years, VCU has provided activities for students, faculty, staff, alumni and guests through its Outdoor Adventure Program. Adventure-based trips include kayaking, whitewater rafting, hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, backpacking, skiing and sea kayaking. Undergraduate and graduate students as well as some staff, faculty and others take advantage of these trips.

Hawkins said the program introduces physically conditioned inexperienced students to activities.

“I want students to know that we have activities set up for beginners to experts,” Hawkins said, adding that students need no previous skills if they are interested in the available activities.

Michelle Bright, a senior environmental-studies major, said she likes joining other students in the outdoor program.

“I worked at Cary Street Gym in the center and decided that I wanted to be a part of the Outdoor Adventure Program because I liked the programs that were being offered and did not want to be left out.”

Hawkins, a graduate of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, who has served as the program’s coordinator the past seven years, identified kayaking and rock climbing as the two most popular programs.

Eve O’Connor, a second-year-graduate biology major, said she meets new people from the program and enjoys rock climbing.

“I enjoy getting to meet knew people from the program as well as being a graduate student, the program helps to clear my mind by participating in activities.”

In contrast to the fall and spring semesters, Hawkins said students travel to Kitty Hawk, N.C., to hang glide in the summer. In addition, students can share an international experience by going to Baja, Mexico for six to 10 days to windsurf and relax on the beach.

“Over the past five years, things have been pretty safe at the Outdoor Adventure Program,” the coordinator said.

Besides Hawkins, student leaders who complete an outdoor program typically acquire the necessary experience to serve as a guide for travel abroad and local students.

Nonetheless, leaders complete the adventure skills practicum that includes workshops and wilderness experiences as part of their leadership training.

In addition to activities, this leadership training includes first-aid, wilderness medicine, outdoor leadership, trip-planning, group facilitation, hazard assessment, team-building and ethics. After successfully completing their training sessions, the leaders spend a week in the wilderness where they use these skills.

“I have been a part of the Outdoor Adventure Program for four years and a student leader for three years,” Bright said. “I enjoy being a part of this program because I have met new people, and I am not intimidated to participate in any of the programs.”

Students wanting to plan a personal trip or program for spring or summer should talk with Hawkins.

“I would need an advance notice on what kind of trip is wanted, depending on if it is a trip that we offer and if someone will be available to lead the trip,” he said.

Moreover, he said during STAR week, when incoming first-year students visit the campus for orientation, the program provides day-caving, canoeing and rafting for them.