Adirondack Adventure, Hamilton's eight-day outdoor program for incoming students, has reached a record participation level, with 230 first-year students set to check in for the popular pre-orientation program on August 13. Fifty percent of the class of 2011 has enrolled in 27 different trips, selecting from programs that focus on hiking, canoeing, rock climbing or kayaking at beginning, intermediate or advanced ability levels. All trips are conducted in various locations in the Adirondacks.
The 24-year-old program is unique among colleges in that it brings alumni back to campus to serve as program leaders. Sixteen of the 54 leaders who are participating this year are alumni who have taken off from their jobs and studies to come back to Hamilton. Over the years, alumni and students have created and tracked their Adirondack Adventure "family trees" such that students know and sometimes establish contact with their leader's leader, or "grandleader" and so on. The alumni infuse their groups with a sense of tradition and character that is passed down through the Hamilton "generations." Additional leaders include faculty, staff and upperclass students who have participated in at least one other Adirondack Adventure trip and also have been trained as leaders.
Andrew Jillings is director of outdoor leadership and the Adirondack Adventure program and brings the philosophy of "Challenge By Choice" to it. It is a leadership practice that allows people to choose when and where they want to stretch their comfort zone. Its goal is to provide a safe and effective learning environment, both mentally and physically. Jillings recently won the Yukon River Quest, the world's longest annual canoe and kayak race, in the single male kayaker category. "My job at Hamilton is to take students out into places that are beyond their normal bounds. If I'm going to do this, I should be doing it myself," explains Jillings about his decision to enter the race.
Participating students arrive on campus for orientation on Monday, August 13, before the college's regular orientation. This program allows them to start college with a group of new friends and spend some time learning and having fun in a large recreational area within an hour's drive of the campus. "College is all one package, the academic and the extracurricular. Learning doesn't stop when you leave the classroom," says Jillings. At the conclusion of all the trips, students also participate in a high ropes course and other activities that emphasize cooperation, team-building and overcoming personal fear.
They won't be scaling Everest or exploring Antarctica, but one group of Adirondack Adventure participants will be participating in a new program that will prepare them for writing about similar experiences. A dozen students, who will canoe and hike in the vicinity of Cranberry Lake, will also be engaging in the initial week of a unique version of Writing 110. This course is designed, according to the course catalog, for students "interested in becoming more confident and successful writers." The goal of this trip, as with all others, is that students have an "engaging, not exhausting" experience according to Jillings. Additionally, however, these 12 students will be journaling about their experiences and writing on several assigned topics for discussion and review once classes have started. Their focus will be to effectively integrate their experiences into their writing.
Jillings will join with Maurice Isserman, James L. Ferguson Professor of History, in presenting "Adventure Writing – Writing 110" this semester. Jillings is directing three additional Adirondack-based field trips for this class, two climbing and one paddling, during the semester. Isserman, who just returned from a three-week trek to the basecamp of Mt. Everest, will teach the classroom portion of the class and review all writing assignments which include journals, weekly assignments and one longer paper. He is co-author of a forthcoming book, "Fallen Giants," on the history of Himalayan mountain climbing.
Leading the Adirondack Adventure portion of this class will be two alumni. John Morell '99, who has led more than a half dozen Adirondack Adventures and who is a Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt University, will join Noelle Short '05, who wrote for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in Saranac Lake since graduating from Hamilton and who just completed a summer writing program at Middlebury College. Short, who has led four other Adirondack Adventure trips, was born and raised in the Adirondacks. A student leader, rising sophomore Corinne Bancroft, will also assist. Isserman will also participate and Jillings will check in with the group as he oversees all 27 trips.
Among the outside speakers who will present in the "Adventure Writing" class are Conrad Anker, co-author of "The Lost Explorer." Anker discovered Mallory's body on Mt. Everest 75 years after Mallory had attempted to climb it. In addition to reading Anker's book, students will also read about the Lewis and Clark and Shackleton expeditions, with the hope of writing their own adventure stories in the future.
The 24-year-old program is unique among colleges in that it brings alumni back to campus to serve as program leaders. Sixteen of the 54 leaders who are participating this year are alumni who have taken off from their jobs and studies to come back to Hamilton. Over the years, alumni and students have created and tracked their Adirondack Adventure "family trees" such that students know and sometimes establish contact with their leader's leader, or "grandleader" and so on. The alumni infuse their groups with a sense of tradition and character that is passed down through the Hamilton "generations." Additional leaders include faculty, staff and upperclass students who have participated in at least one other Adirondack Adventure trip and also have been trained as leaders.
Andrew Jillings is director of outdoor leadership and the Adirondack Adventure program and brings the philosophy of "Challenge By Choice" to it. It is a leadership practice that allows people to choose when and where they want to stretch their comfort zone. Its goal is to provide a safe and effective learning environment, both mentally and physically. Jillings recently won the Yukon River Quest, the world's longest annual canoe and kayak race, in the single male kayaker category. "My job at Hamilton is to take students out into places that are beyond their normal bounds. If I'm going to do this, I should be doing it myself," explains Jillings about his decision to enter the race.
Participating students arrive on campus for orientation on Monday, August 13, before the college's regular orientation. This program allows them to start college with a group of new friends and spend some time learning and having fun in a large recreational area within an hour's drive of the campus. "College is all one package, the academic and the extracurricular. Learning doesn't stop when you leave the classroom," says Jillings. At the conclusion of all the trips, students also participate in a high ropes course and other activities that emphasize cooperation, team-building and overcoming personal fear.
They won't be scaling Everest or exploring Antarctica, but one group of Adirondack Adventure participants will be participating in a new program that will prepare them for writing about similar experiences. A dozen students, who will canoe and hike in the vicinity of Cranberry Lake, will also be engaging in the initial week of a unique version of Writing 110. This course is designed, according to the course catalog, for students "interested in becoming more confident and successful writers." The goal of this trip, as with all others, is that students have an "engaging, not exhausting" experience according to Jillings. Additionally, however, these 12 students will be journaling about their experiences and writing on several assigned topics for discussion and review once classes have started. Their focus will be to effectively integrate their experiences into their writing.
Jillings will join with Maurice Isserman, James L. Ferguson Professor of History, in presenting "Adventure Writing – Writing 110" this semester. Jillings is directing three additional Adirondack-based field trips for this class, two climbing and one paddling, during the semester. Isserman, who just returned from a three-week trek to the basecamp of Mt. Everest, will teach the classroom portion of the class and review all writing assignments which include journals, weekly assignments and one longer paper. He is co-author of a forthcoming book, "Fallen Giants," on the history of Himalayan mountain climbing.
Leading the Adirondack Adventure portion of this class will be two alumni. John Morell '99, who has led more than a half dozen Adirondack Adventures and who is a Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt University, will join Noelle Short '05, who wrote for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in Saranac Lake since graduating from Hamilton and who just completed a summer writing program at Middlebury College. Short, who has led four other Adirondack Adventure trips, was born and raised in the Adirondacks. A student leader, rising sophomore Corinne Bancroft, will also assist. Isserman will also participate and Jillings will check in with the group as he oversees all 27 trips.
Among the outside speakers who will present in the "Adventure Writing" class are Conrad Anker, co-author of "The Lost Explorer." Anker discovered Mallory's body on Mt. Everest 75 years after Mallory had attempted to climb it. In addition to reading Anker's book, students will also read about the Lewis and Clark and Shackleton expeditions, with the hope of writing their own adventure stories in the future.
