STEPHEN BORUTTA '13, FOUNDER/PRESIDENT, OUTDOOR CLUB:
I always love camping trips out to Greer's Ferry. We normally do it right at
the start of first semester. It's just, like, cliff jumping, it's sunny, a lot of
people come. My favorite part about that is that a lot of random people come. It's
not always just people that I know or people that everyone knows. It's really fund
to blend the class years and have everyone experience the outdoors and get to know
each other better.
CONNOR CORLEY '13, CO-PRESIDENT, OUTDOOR CLUB:
On top of that, just anything that anyone wants to do. The whole point of the
Outdoor Recreation Club is to allow students to access the capabilities that we
have to do what they want to do in Arkansas. We've done things like going to a place
called Loco Ropes, which is a high ropes course. Really, just anything that people
want to do outside, whether it be a chili cook-off, or just hiking, or camping,
or whatever it may be.
ROBERT TUNG '13, CO-PRESIDENT, OUTDOOR CLUB:
I really enjoy hiking, and climbing, and backpacking, and camping, and all that
kind of stuff. So, I wanted to become a leader of the club to plan trips that people
would find enjoyable – places that are accessible in Arkansas, which there are plenty
of.
BORUTTA:
We've got our general trips, like we'll do canoeing, hiking, sometimes we do
sunrise hikes where we wake up at, you know, 5:00 or 4:00 in the morning and climb
Pinnacle Mountain to watch the sunrise, or on just cabin trips, or even service
trips to help clean up trails, things like that. We're also known for just the spontaneity.
We have a lot of, just like, if someone wants to go spelunking and they know a good
spelunking place in Arkansas, tell us, we'll organize it, bada bing
bada boom, we're gone.You know?
TUNG:
It's a relaxing environment for newcomers. There's no pressure, you know, to
know what you're doing or have a fancy gear anything like that, because among the
people in the club and then we also ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ's provided a few things, so it makes
it really easy to just get out there and start doing something they've been interested
in or something that you'd like to do your entire life.
CORLEY:
A big part of the club is offering equipment to people because outdoor equipment
– whether the tents or cooking gear or really anything in between – is hard and
expensive to buy, so we try to offer those services to kids who can't afford things
like that, can't afford a $300 tent, or sleeping bag, or things like that. We like
to just offer as much as we can to the school to bring them outside, and especially
to allow them a chance to get off-campus and experience the natural beauty of the
state.