Outdoor Pursuits (OP) is a program run through Wake Forest Campus Recreation that aims to get students off campus and into nature. They lead trips in which students hike, camp, rock climb, backpack and kayak — among other adventures — encouraging students to try new things and simply have fun outside.
An important part of the program is the student employment opportunities that OP offers. Alongside a staff member, student employees lead the trips off-campus and supervise the OP rental center and climbing wall in the gym.
Bella Coughlin is a junior who is double-majoring in physics and mathematics, and has been working for OP for a year. She has always loved being outdoors, and she says that one of the best things about working for OP is all of the ways it has allowed her to engage with her co-workers and work as a team. She says her favorite memory with OP so far has been the Wilderness to Wake program, a five-day pre-orientation program that takes cohorts of incoming Wake Forest freshmen on outdoor adventures.
Coughlin believes that programs like OP are important because they allow students to explore a variety of different activities safely and provide accessibility to activities that people may not have been able to engage in before.
Coughlin also believes that OP is a positive presence on campus because it encourages students to go out into nature and get off campus.
“I feel like it’s just good for people’s souls in a way. Just getting outside is very peaceful. I think everybody should spend more time outdoors, and I think that getting off of Wake [Forest]’s campus is important because a lot of people are moving to North Carolina and never really engaging in the rest of the state,” Coughlin said. “So I think we do a good job of showing people the rest of North Carolina.”
Connor Kim, a senior who is majoring in accounting, is another OP student employee. Kim has been working for OP since the fall of his sophomore year, and says that for him, the best part of OP is the people he has met and gotten the chance to work with in the community.
Kim is also the president of the climbing club, which meets twice a week at the climbing wall in the gym. He is passionate about climbing and enjoys leading many of the climbing trips through OP. For him, the two go hand-in-hand.
“I love to rock climb, and I like seeing other people get excited about the sport,” Kim said. “So if I’m able to be that person who can show them how things work or give them the opportunity to go outside and climb — which many people might not have the opportunity if it wasn’t for outdoor pursuits — I think it is super valuable… that was something that was given to me when I was a freshman. So I think it’s awesome that we have this program that allows people to do that.”
Like Coughlin, Kim thinks that OP is critical in providing students with a community in which they can explore nature and outdoor sports with others.
“I think it’s awesome that anyone can find a community. There are no barriers to entry. It’s super cool how people can just come together over a common interest and we have something like Outdoor Pursuits that will help facilitate that,” Kim said. “I also think it’s super cool how [for] a lot of our trips, some people just sign up for the trip without knowing people beforehand. And there are a lot of people in that boat, so when they sign up for a trip, they end up meeting a bunch of new people that they wouldn’t have met before.”
Kim also points out that OP provides these opportunities in a very affordable way. Many of the activities that OP offers would be quite expensive through outside professional services. But OP offers these same opportunities at low or no cost, which increases accessibility and allows people to explore all kinds of avenues.
“OP gives people that outlet to get outside and pursue hobbies and passions that maybe they wouldn’t have been able to before, but it’s made possible through the program and the community it builds,” Kim said.
