PC is a campus where not much seems to change, but don’t get too comfortable. There’s a new club in town, and they want to take you on a hike.
The Outdoors Club was a Presbyterian College club that existed pre-Covid and, unfortunately, was something that went away with the pandemic and never came back. That is, until this semester. Victoria Weaver, a senior studying special education, had it as her senior wish to bring this club back to campus, except this time, with a “z”. Alongside three other leadership members, Victoria has already held the first Outdoorz Club event in collaboration with Ecology Club: a hike to Millers Fork in Clinton, just eight minutes away from campus. Members of the clubs hiked Millers Fork and bonded over their love of all that the great outdoors had to offer. This was the stress reliever needed for midterm week for all students, and there’s even more to come.
The Outdoorz Club has their eyes on your calendar, hoping to carve out time for multiple soon-to-be planned events. A camping trip was in the works of being planned over fall break, pre-dating the government shutdown, which unfortunately forced Outdoorz Club leadership to call for it to be postponed. However, they hope to open the idea back up again once the weather is more permitting. Another exciting event in the works is a backpacking trip, likely a three-day trip that would offer real experience in fire-making skills, adapting to the challenges of nature, and disconnecting from the stress of daily life.
The revival of this club offers a promising outlook on today’s student population and their generation as a whole. After the Covid-19 pandemic shut us all behind closed doors and computer screens, it’s no wonder why students are desperate to be outside with their community once more. Young people now crave connections because their social life during their youth was taken away and are nostalgic for the normal they were never able to exist in. With the help of PC’s Outdoorz club and other like-minded individuals in our community, we can escape from our phones and wander through nature with intention and reflection. One might think they do not have the skills, equipment, or finances available to join the team of nature lovers in the Outdoorz Club, but they’d be wrong. The Outdoorz Club is not on campus to separate those who are experienced from those who aren’t, but to welcome those who are interested into their community where they can learn and grow together. We are one with nature if we keep an open mind.
