This page is no longer being maintained.
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Leslie Weddell
(719) 389-6038
Leslie.Weddell@ColoradoCollege.edu
COLORADO COLLEGE STUDENTS EMBARK
ON 60 SERVICE TRIPS THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHWEST
Innovative Orientation Promotes Friendship, Strong Service Ethic
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – August 30, 2010 – Colorado College is sending incoming first-year, transfer, international exchange and international students – a total of 597 students – on a wide range of New Student Orientation trips. The 60 trips, all of which have a service component, will depart Wednesday, Sept. 1 and return Sunday, Sept. 5.
Elizabeth Pudder, service coordinator for the Center for Service and Learning, and Steve Crosby, outdoor education director, are in charge of the trips, with Pudder overseeing 39 front country and urban trips, and Crosby overseeing 21 backcountry trips. All the NSO trips are led by CC students, with at least two leaders per trip.
Among the 39 expeditions Pudder oversees are trips to an Indian museum in La Junta, a wolf mission in Westcliffe, a wind farm in Hotchkiss and an emergency shelter and food bank in Alamosa, all in Colorado; an animal rescue and sanctuary in Dalhart, Texas; the St. Elizabeth's Shelter in Santa Fe and a charter school in Taos, N.M.
Crosby’s backcountry trips go to the Collegiate Peaks, Sangre de Cristo, Holy Cross, and Uncompahgre wilderness areas, all in Colorado.
“Most of the trips, whether they are urban, front country or backcountry, are three to six hours away,” Pudder says. “We want the new students to experience the region.”
The orientation helps new students get to know a small group of people very well outside of the residence hall and classroom, Pudder says. The service component is also a great group- and team-building activity, and underscores CC’s strong service ethic. The time away from campus also allows the new students an opportunity to get to know and ask questions of the group leaders, all of whom are upperclassmen.
The logistics of the undertaking are massive. All the necessary gear must be checked out to be sure it is in working order. Gear is then assigned to NSO excursions, and arranged in order of trip departure. Food for the 597 NSO participants and the 122 student leaders is organized by trip. Buses and vans and trip routes must be arranged, with trips heading to the same region sharing a bus to help reduce CC’s carbon footprint.
This is the eighth year that Colorado College is undertaking the massive effort. The trips, called the Priddy Experience, began in 2003 as the result of a $7.9 million grant to CC the previous year from the Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust. Funds from the grant, one of the largest in CC’s history, were spread across various campus programs, with $125,000 being designated for NSO trips.
About Colorado College
Colorado College is a nationally prominent, four-year liberal arts college that was founded in Colorado Springs in 1874. The college operates on the innovative Block Plan, in which its 1,975 undergraduate students study one course at a time in intensive 3½-week blocks. The college also offers a master of arts in teaching degree. For more information, visit www.ColoradoCollege.edu <http://www.ColoradoCollege.edu>.