Northland enhances community connection in new student orientation trip

ASHLAND, Wis. — Incoming students are getting to know Northland College, the great outdoors and the Chequamegon Bay area community during the 2012 Outdoor Orientation Program. The program, designed and led by students, offers a social, academic and ecological introduction to life at and around Northland. Freshmen and transfer students take part in 14-day and 5-day trips throughout the Chequamegon Bay area and beyond. This summer, Northland is offering a new trip called “Northland Connect.”

“We were looking for something different to do besides having the extended trips and then kids come back to campus to sit in their dorms,” said John Graetz, orientation coordinator at Northland College. “We can do more. We have the time and resources to get them better acquainted with the area.”

“Northland Connect” is an outdoor orientation trip where 18 new students, accompanied by seven student leaders, have opted to participate in a 21-day trip to kick off their environmental education at Northland College. Students will visit local destinations to learn more about different facets of the Chequamegon Bay region, including energy, transportation, sustainable food systems, native cultures and geology. The students are spending their first seven days touring locales, such as Houghton Point, Whittlesey Creek, Highland Valley Farm and Red Cliff. From there, students will head out on one of the 14-day Outdoor Orientation trips.

“The trips are great for students,” says Michael A. Miller, Northland College President. “They make new connections, not only on campus, but also in the greater community. We feel they will take away a better understanding of the region, Northland’s commitment to sustainability and how those worlds may intertwine through their education.”

The first freshmen and transfer students arrived for the 2012 Outdoor Orientation Program on Aug. 10 to travel to areas, such as the Sylvania Wilderness, Porcupine Mountains and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Because of increasing enrollment, more students will be taking part in this year’s Outdoor Orientation events with around 205 new freshmen and transfer students expected to participate and about 60 students leading the trips. Northland College is anticipating its highest overall full-time enrollment this fall in 11 years. The “Northland Connect” Outdoor Orientation experience ran from Aug. 11-17.

For more information about Northland College and its Institute, visit www.northland.edu.

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