Most first-year students meet their new classmates in a residence hall or classroom. For seven new Monarchs, introductions happened around a campfire, on hiking trails and while navigating whitewater rapids.
Before the semester began, the incoming Old Dominion University students spent four days together during First Ascent, an annual experience hosted by the University’s Outdoor Adventure Program (OAP).
On the surface, the trip to Pocahontas State Park near Richmond was about camping, hiking, rock climbing and whitewater rafting. But First Ascent is designed to accomplish something more: help ease the transition to college by giving new students a chance to arrive at ODU with relationships already forming, greater confidence in navigating unfamiliar experiences and a sense that they have a place within the Monarch community.
Jared Causby, assistant director of OAP, said that sense of connection is at the heart of the program.
“A student comes in not knowing where they fit in, and then they go on a trip with us and realize how much fun it is,” Causby said. “They find that piece of community and realize, ‘Hey, classes haven’t even started, and I already have two friends from First Ascent that I can count on.’”
For Maryland native Victoria Fantle, moving in early was just a bonus of the First Ascent trip. A member of the University’s Women’s Rowing Team and recipient of the Girl Scout Gold Award, Fantle was already comfortable on the water and outdoors. What drew her to First Ascent was the opportunity to push herself in new ways.
As an athlete who loves a challenge, Fantle praised the trip’s well-planned activities and safety protocols. Even with the heat and bugs, she said the experience gave her a chance to bond with fellow first-year students and the three student leaders who accompanied them.
“It was challenging, which is what you want, and it was definitely thrilling,” Fantle said. “It’s a great way to make new friends, connect with nature and go on a high adventure. I would definitely go on another trip.”
While Fantle came to First Ascent with plenty of outdoor experience, that isn’t the case for many participants.
“We primarily see people who are brand new to the outdoors,” said Elizabeth Barr, a senior environmental science major from Hillsville, Virginia, who served as a student leader on the First Ascent trip. “Some of the students who participate have never set up a tent, built a campfire or even had a s’more.”
Barr knows what it is like to grow through the program from a participant into someone responsible for helping others navigate those experiences. She became an apprentice student leader during her sophomore year and has since taken on a leadership role with First Ascent.
For Barr, one of the rewards is watching uncertainty turn into curiosity and confidence.
“Being able to see people have that experience for the first time while facilitating is really special,” she said.
She knows the experience has made an impression when students finish a trip asking what adventure comes next or how they can get equipment of their own.
Learning to become comfortable with the uncomfortable is part of the experience.
Chris Lawson, OAP coordinator, discovered his own passion for the outdoors through a similar program as an undergraduate before pursuing a master’s degree in outdoor adventure and expedition leadership. He said one of the biggest adjustments for newcomers can be something as simple as learning to sleep outside.
But the lesson can extend well beyond a campsite.
Starting college requires students to navigate unfamiliar territory of a different kind: meeting new people, adjusting to new routines, asking for help and learning to trust themselves in situations they haven’t encountered before. First Ascent gives students an opportunity to experience some of that uncertainty together, building confidence and connections they can carry back to campus.
The challenges may begin with pitching a tent, climbing a rock wall or navigating a rapid. The larger lesson is discovering that being uncomfortable doesn’t mean being incapable — and that new challenges can be easier to navigate when you have a community around you.
First Ascent is one part of OAP’s broader effort to create connection and growth through shared experiences. The program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, offers year-round outdoor trips and also oversees the indoor rock climbing wall at the Student Recreation & Well Being Center, equipment rentals and the Courage Miller Partners Challenge Course. More than 250 students participated in OAP adventures last year.
For Causby, though, what students bring home from a trip often has little to do with the miles they hiked or the rapids they navigated.
It’s the people they met along the way.
First Ascent participants may leave campus as strangers, but after four days of setting up camp, tackling unfamiliar challenges and relying on one another, they return with greater confidence, new relationships and something particularly valuable at the start of college: a sense that they belong.
For some new Monarchs, finding their place at ODU starts in a classroom or residence hall. For others, it might just begin around a campfire.
Learn more about the Student Recreation & Well Being Center and explore upcoming trips through the Outdoor Adventure Program.