Incoming first-year Hamilton students are participating in Adirondack Adventure, an outdoor orientation program for new students. More than 200 students arrived a week before regular orientation for eight days of games, hiking, canoeing and service projects. Coordinated by Andrew Jillings, director of adventure program, Adirondack Adventure (AA) offers 25 different outdoor expeditions. Trips range from standard Adirondack explorations -- hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and rock climbing -- to more unusual trips, such as a service trip, and a geological exploration.
This year, two new adventures have been added to the program: a Ceramic Adventure and a Theatre Adventure. Jillings explains these trips are for students who want the Adirondack experience but not the adventure of a wilderness trip. The AA Web site promises that these adventures are based at a campground that has flush toilets and warm showers.
Adirondack Adventure allows students to go on four-day wilderness adventure. All trips are led by trained faculty members, students and staff who help navigate the adventure and motivate students during the sometimes physically rigorous excursions. After completing their trip, students will convene at an Outdoor Education Center, where they will clean-up and meet other AA participants. At the Education Center, students will also participate in a high ropes course challenge and other activities that emphasize cooperation, team-building, and overcoming personal fear.
Adirondack Adventure has helped Hamilton students transition from high school to college for more than 20 years. In the past few years, Jillings explains, the program's popularity has grown tremendously. AA provides safe, yet mentally and physically challenging environment where students can learn about group work and Hamilton; most importantly, trips are designed so that all participants have fun.
For students who are not up for a wilderness trip, Hamilton also offers an Urban Service Experience. USE gives students the chance to explore the city of Utica and bond with other Hamilton students and the members of the faculty who coordinate the program. They volunteer with local service agencies, including: projects for Habitat for Humanity, serving meals at a soup kitchen and helping with a recreation program for inner-city kids.
The students are also introduced to Utica. They visit museums and explore the neighborhoods. The group is staying together, using sleeping bags on the floor of a downtown Utica church and using its kitchen to prepare some meals when they're not eating at some of Utica's ethnic restaurants.
For more information, visit the AA website:
http://www.hamilton.edu/campus/adirondack/about.html
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
