With the warm weather fast approaching, camping and roughing it in the outdoors will keep some students busy this summer.

Especially if they decide to enroll in a new course called Experiential Education offered in the fall.

The Outing Centre at the Office of Campus Recreation and CAHC will team up to offer the new course listed as CAHC 490.

The course begins Aug. 13, with a 10-day backpacking trip at the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina, and will be the basis for the 10-week course, said Steve Woolf, graduate counseling student and instructor for the course.

The remainder of the course focuses on leadership skills and group functioning.

Woolf works at the Outing Centre and, in addition to leading similar trips, has attended a semester course at Colorado Outward Bound, where he participated in backpacking, rockclimbing and whitewater rafting.

“The course is based on experience. I want the students to learn about themselves, their community and the relationship between the two,” said Woolf. He said the course is also designed to make learning fun again because with age the desire to learn diminishes.

“I want to awaken that curiosity that lies within the students. I would hope the course could serve as an alarm clock for that process” said Woolf.

“Challenge By Choice” is the motto for the trip, he said, and students are encouraged to bring the least amount of materials to test their survival skills.

The backpacking trip will include team building activities, a service project and a solo experience, where the student will be alone for 24-hours.

Woolf recommends this course to student leaders and those that want to challenge themselves physically, emotionally and mentally. Only 12 students can participate in the course, so an application is necessary. Anyone can participate in the course, but preference will be given to upperclassmen.

Those interested in the 1 to 3 variable credit course can call Steve Woolf at 753-5107 to receive an application or e-mail him at [email protected]