MSU’s first-year outdoor orientation program blends backcountry with new beginnings

Nick VanDinther, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who plans to major in accounting and fly fish "as much as possible," said his time backcountry camping in the Spanish Peaks mountain range in a new Montana State University outdoor orientation program created unexpected, deep friendships – especially during a particularly loud thunder and lightning storm "right on top of the group one night."

"We played a lot of icebreaker games and got to know each other really well, which happened pretty fast because we talked about everything," VanDinther said. "I’m definitely close with the guys in my tent. I don’t feel nearly as nervous about making friends now. This trip was a major part of that."

VanDinther and 37 other first-year Montana State University students are fresh off the trail from spending 96 hours in Montana’s wilderness together as the first cohort of the First-Year Outdoor Orientation Trips, or FOOTsteps, managed by the Associated Students of Montana State University Outdoor Recreation Program.

Jenny Lavey, MSU News Service

http://www.montana.edu/news/17958