Helping people stretch frontiers

If you're looking for a new and exciting adventure this summer, try jumping out of an airplane 12,000 feet above the ground. That's what a group of IU students and Bloomington community members are doing Saturday in Greensburg, Ind.\nThis skydiving trip is one of the many excursions IU Outdoor Adventures takes on a regular basis throughout the school year and the summer. IUOA is a campus organization that plans and coordinates various outdoor recreational activities at different locations around the United States. Located on the first floor in the Indiana Memorial Union at the student activities desk, anyone can sign up to participate -- regardless of skill level or experience. \nThis weekend, IU Outdoor Adventures is taking a group from the Cyclotron organization rock climbing in Giant City State Park, Ill. \nBoth Bloomington community members and IU students take part in the IU Outdoors trips, but many students are gone during the summer.\n"It seems the trips are more community-based during the summer," said Mark Howard, sophomore gear manager and trip coordinator at IU Outdoor Adventures.\nThe IUOA trip coordinators take on other adventures during the summer, in addition to the routine trips. According to Dave Calvin, program director of IUOA, the biggest upcoming adventure for the IU Outdoors team will be the freshmen orientation trips, \nThere will be a total of about 100 new students who will go on different adventures in ten groups of eight to 12. The incoming freshmen will go backpacking, rock-climbing, canoeing or coastal kayaking in states such as Missouri, West Virginia, North Carolina or Michigan.\n"Orientation trips are a really good way for freshmen to get to know each other," Howard said.\nMany of the IU Outdoor Adventure trip coordinators have also contributed to the community this summer. They are contacted to plan and coordinate activities for children at places such as the YMCA, Bloomington Parks and Recreation and the Girl Scouts. They have also had more regular involvement with the juvenile correctional center, Calvin said. . \n"It started out as a three to four-hour team-building initiative, and it has worked its way to an overnight program," Calvin said. \nTrip coordinators at IUOA are popular with different youth organizations in the community because they are certified or are in the process of being certified in things such as Wilderness First Aid and CPR for a Professional Rescue. Most trip coordinators have Wilderness First Aid certification, which teaches basic first aid skills but also includes specific instruction on how to treat injuries while away from civilization. \nSome other upcoming trips planned for the first part of the fall are backpacking in West Plains, Miss.; rock climbing in Carbondale, Ill. ; horseback riding and canoeing in Marshall, Tenn.; mountain biking in Grand Rapids, Mich.; and hang gliding at Lookout Mountain, Ga. \nIU Outdoor Adventures also takes trips to places such as Gauley River, W.V.; Red River Gorge, Ky.; and Lake Monroe every semester.\nEven though these are routine trips for IUOA, they are a first-time experience for many participants. \nSophomore Dave Dickerson, who ventured on a weekend coastal kayacking trip to Lake Monroe this past spring, said he enjoyed the opportunity to experience something new through one of the Outdoors programs.\n"I had never gone kayacking," Dickerson said. "I had been backpacking out west, but it was neat to have that (outdoors experience) here in Indiana." \nDickerson said even though the trips vary in skill level, he found they end up being custom trips depending on the level for the entire group.\n"(The trip) was designed to be intermediate, but it could have been a lot harder or a lot easier because the trip coordinators kept asking if we wanted to do more or less intensive stuff," Dickerson said. \nEven though IUOA consistently returns to places such as Lake Monroe, the trip coordinators also try new and different places each semester, according to Nate Beckman, senior desk manager at the IU Outdoor Adventures office.\n"We're taking a trip to Marshall, Tenn. in the fall -- we've never been there before," Howard said. \nIn addition to venturing out to new places, IU Outdoors also explores new adventures. For instance, Beckman said they held a llama-trekking trip this past spring semester, and now dogsledding is a big hit in the winter.\nDogsledding has become so popular that it is now offered as a one-credit course in January, according to Calvin. Students enrolled in the class take a couple weeks in January to learn the ins and outs of dogsledding before heading off to a snowy destination to put their skills to the test. \nTo sign up for the skydiving trip July 28 or for more information about upcoming trips, contact the IU Outdoor Adventures office at the Student Activities Desk on the first floor in the Indiana Memorial Union at 855-2231.