The Outdoor Recreation Club (ORC) hosted its first on-campus campout from Friday, May 19, to Saturday, May 20. The outdoors can be daunting for someone just starting out, so ORC planned this campout as a trial activity due to its accessibility to the broader student body on campus.
“We thought a campout on campus would be a great way to get people to know what ORC is all about without having to commit to a weekend away from campus,” said sophomore Elijah Kuhaupt, co-treasurer of ORC and one of the planners of the event.
It appeared to work, with over 30 people RSVP’ing. They enjoyed an evening of fellowship, outdoors and of course, food. This time, participants ate burgers, kebabs and sweet corn, while on other off-campus campouts they would eat peanut butter, noodles, rice and beans. After dinner, they made s’mores and sat around the grill eating and talking.
The campout took place in the Colman courtyard, with the brightly colored tents a reminder to Colman residents of how close the outdoors really are. “Seeing the tents made me want to go camping,” said freshman Joseph Wetzel, a Colman occupant. ORC offers the opportunity to travel to new places while meeting new people, enjoy the outdoors and food, all while having the costs subsidized by LU.
ORC holds a number of trips throughout the year, “most notably during midterm reading periods and Spring Break,” said Kuhaupt. “Anyone can participate on ORC trips.” If you ever want to step out of the Lawrence bubble into the outdoors and enjoy some non-cafeteria food, check out one of their trips. They meet on the second Sunday of each term in the Cinema to talk about upcoming trips and other ways to get involved.
