Wilderness Club Offers Summer Camping Trip, 26 Students Travel to Outer Banks
Twenty-six students, accompanied by Bethany Henderson-Dean, Ph.D., Wilderness Club adviser, recently traveled to the Outer Banks as part of a Wilderness Club summer learning experience. A campground in Frisco, N.C., served as home base; the group began each day’s adventures from there.
During the course of the week, the group visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk, the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Cape Hatteras and more. Activities included sight seeing, ATV tours, hiking, beach lounging and others.
This marks the sixth year that Henderson-Dean has led a group on a summer camping trip. Past locations have included Okefenokee Swamp, the Smoky Mountains and the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.
The trip not only is a welcome break from studying and final exams, but it also fulfills the mission of the Biology Program: to engage students in learner-centered instruction and undergraduate research to prepare them with the knowledge, skills, global perspectives and ethical practices for graduate and professional careers in the biological sciences.
Visiting places like the Outer Banks gives students global perspectives that they may not otherwise get by staying in Ohio.
Every other year, students may opt to take BIOL415, field biology, for one credit hour. Offered during the spring semester, the trip culminates with the Wilderness Club camping trip. The course focuses on the ecological dynamics of indigenous flora and fauna of that year’s trip destination.
Though many members of Wilderness Club are students in the College of Sciences, any student is welcome to join. “Wilderness Club has allowed me to meet so many new people and experience so many new things – not to mention all the places I’ve been with the club,” said Keith Posendek, a fifth-year pharmacy student who traveled with the group.
For more information on Wilderness Club, contact Henderson-Dean at Henderson-dean@findlay.edu.