This semester one of the classes I’m taking is Outdoor Recreation Leadership, taught by Kendra Ormerod. Just like any college course there are traditional class hours. However, my favorite time of the week is the Wednesday lab when we go out and hike different trails and learn first-hand outdoor leadership and technical skills. These are skills that we will use for our future careers as outdoor leaders.
Throughout the semester Kendra had organizations like Leave No Trace and the Adirondack Club come in and do seminars and teach us about their organizations and what they do in the outdoor recreation industry. When going into the seminars I thought I knew a decent amount about the organizations, but was pleasantly surprised to find I only scratched the surface. I have greatly enjoyed the seminars and the wealth of information gained from them.
The Leave No Trace workshop started us off on good footing for our semester. The skills we learned taught us how to leave wilderness areas in better shape than how we found them. We spent a few weeks outside with Professor Bethany Garretson learning skills like shelter building, setting up tarps, and different techniques for building fires. I really enjoyed learning how to build shelters with the downed material you find in the woods. By the end of the first three weeks my group and I had a decent shelter started.
The past few weeks we have been out with Matthew Rothamel-a Paul Smith’s alum and owner of Blue Line Sports in Saranac Lake, focusing on map and compass usage and the technical skills that go along with them including declination, triangulation, reading a map, and much more. For a guy who had zero knowledge on how to use a map and compass, I have gained a great deal of hands-on knowledge from Matthew’s instruction. I look forward to practicing my map and compass skills on future hikes outside of class.
So far the highlight of my college career at Paul Smith’s has been the growth of friendship with my Outdoor Recreation Leadership classmates and the comradery we have formed on our outdoor adventures. The peak of this semester was our recent hike up Azure Mountain on April 13, 2016. I look forward to many more adventures with these friends.
Associate’s Degree: Criminal Justice, Spring 2015
Bachelor’s Degree: R.A.E.L.M. Program, expected graduation: Spring 2019
Career Goal: DEC Officer
I grew up a military brat and got to travel to many places because of my dad’s post changes. Other than family, the other constant despite all the moving, was the great outdoors. I fell in love with the great outdoors and love grew with every passing year. When it came time to go to college it took me a while to find my direction – until I went to Florida to visit friends, and went kayaking. I was picking up trash out of the waterways from my kayak and it just clicked. I wanted to do my part to protect the great outdoors for future generations to enjoy, like I do.