Forty-two members of the class of 2008 spent four days hiking, kayaking, canoeing and bonding this summer before embarking on their Macalester careers.

It was the first time that Macalester offered incoming first-years the opportunity to participate in one of five pre-orientation outdoor experiences, collectively titled MacWard Bound.

All of the trips traveled to Northern Minnesota, where one group went kayaking on Lake Superior, two went canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and two went hiking in the Superior National Forest.

Outward Bound, an adventure-based education program, ran the trips in cooperation with the Macalester Outing Club. Two professional Outward Bound guides and one Macalester upperclassmen led each trip. The Macalester guides, all of whom are certified in wilderness first-aid and experienced in the outdoors, were Johann Bergholz ’06, Andy Dykema ’06, Laura Kerr ’07, Trudy Rebert ’07 and Anika Taylor ’06.

Director of Campus Programs Brian Wagner said that the student leaders were there to act as facilitators between the Outward Bound staff and the incoming first-years, to answer questions about college academics and social life, and to organize activities for the group during the two days between when the trips returned and the on-campus orientation began.

Campus Programs used a lottery system to determine which of the 84 applicants would have the opportunity to participate in MacWard Bound.

“I expected to fill up the 42 spots but I never thought we would have double the amount of applicants as spots. It was exciting,” Wagner said.

Wagner said that the intended purpose of the program was to introduce incoming students to each other and Macalester. “The goal was to bring students in to do something early, so that students could build relationships in a low-stress way,” he said. “It’s a great way to build community and introduce students to Macalester’s place in our own community.”

Students who went on the trips said that they found the experience a helpful transition to college. Several suggested that the MacWard Bound trips were more beneficial than the on-campus orientation.

“The trip was great, orientation was bad compared to it,” said Maya Gutierrez ’08, who went on a hiking trip. “I ended up not attending many sessions because I didn’t get anything out of it compared to the MacWard Bound trip. I felt I made real connections with people on the trip, but not in orientation.”

Ben Larson ’08 said his experience with MacWard Bound helped him transition to life at Macalester. “People [who went on the trips] aren’t just friends with people in their hall now,” he said. “All of us know people from MacWard Bound all over campus.”

The Stevens/Dewitt Wallace endowment, which specifically subsidizes Outward Bound trips for Macalester students, funded the program. The endowment was created in 1966 and has been used in the past to fund mushing (dog sledding) trips for students.

According to Wagner, the cost to send each student on a trip was $500, but was partially subsidized by the endowment so that students paid only $250 each.

Wagner said that he hopes the program can be expanded and improved next year, with help from students who participated in MacWard Bound this year. He said that he foresees the program becoming one aspect of a larger pre-orientation program that would also include recreational trips and service-learning activities in the Twin Cities, both of which are less costly than outdoor trips.