Adventure comes in all sorts of varieties. Sometimes adventure is familiar and other times it’s brand new. Eight students participated in such adventures Saturday at Camp Dakota, led by Andrew Tennant, Corban Recreation intern. Camp Dakota is a family adventure camp located outside of Scotts Mills near Silverton.
The goal of Corban Rec. is “to provide students with outdoor recreation opportunities to inspire adventure, cultivate curiosity, and encourage community,” Ben Pearson, director of student programs, said. This group of nine Corbanites recognized their fear of heights on the ropes course, reveled in their forearm strength on the rock wall and realized their pain tolerance on the paintball course.
Each student signed up for Saturday’s trip knew that it was going to be a lot of fun and probably fairly challenging, but when new friendships were developed and old friendships were strengthened, some were surprised.
“It was a great opportunity to meet new people,” student Micah Wong said. “It expanded my group of friends. Also, it was cheap.”
The trip cost $15, which included all three events and transportation.
Wong was not the only student who recognized the privilege of meeting new people in a unique way. “It was a blast. I got to do things I had never done before. I also got to meet four new people,” student Tyler Lebien said. “It was stuff I wouldn’t normally do, with people I wouldn’t normally do it with.”
Corban Rec. allows for friendships to be built while experiencing the outdoors. Pearson emphasized the question, “Why not connect with your peers and discover new friendships and the mystery and majesty of God’s good creation?”
Student Life holds to six constructs that foster student learning. Tennant explained that this Corban Rec. trip fit into two of those constructs: Belonging and Mindfulness. “It’s a good experience for students to branch out and meet new people at the beginning of the year in a way that encourages team building,” Tennant said. Although the three events the students participated in were scary at times, they “forced students out of their comfort zones in a way that was really fun,” Tennant said.
Pearson added the Curiosity construct to this list, saying, “Exposing students to a variety of outdoor experiences provides space for students to explore new interests otherwise undiscovered by them.”
The trip also taught students new things about themselves. “I figured out that I’d be terrible in war,” student Katie Renstrom said after paintballing in a battle of survival. She didn’t survive.
Corban Rec. provides students with great opportunities to “enrich their collegiate experience,” Tennant said. “There are so many memorable opportunities outside of the classroom, and Corban Rec. enables those moments.”
“Oregon is full of truly amazing outdoor recreational pursuits,” Pearson said. “Venturing into the wilderness as a respite from daily routine is beneficial to encouraging reflection and rejuvenation, and Corban Rec. is an excellent outlet for this.”
Students interested in participating in future events should keep watch for emails from CorbanRec@corban.edu for information on upcoming events.