Adventure in the Adirondacks: My SCOOP experience
It is a warm summer night in the Adirondacks, and I am at a hoedown. 天空被涂上了颜色 a blush pink, a cool breeze blows off 湖 Pleasant, and the sweet smell of campfire 烟雾从五个火坑里飘出来. Hundreds of people happily chatter and laugh as square-dancing 音乐开始响起.
I grab hands with the people on either side of me, all of us giggling as we attempt do-si-do和散步. I take a moment to look at the scene around me and think, “我会喜欢这里的.”
Just a few hours earlier, I moved into my dorm room, hugged my family goodbye, and boarded a bus to Camp Fowler in the Adirondacks, where we were welcomed by cheering 的理解. Together, hundreds of other nervous new students and I embarked on our first adventure of college, the 火博体育大学 Outdoor Orientation Program (独家).
SCOOP is an optional pre-orientation program for incoming first-year and transfer students that takes place before mandatory new student orientation. 今年，结束了 half of the first-year class participated in SCOOP, choosing among programs that offer a range of experiences: hiking, canoeing, adventure courses, white water rafting, yoga retreats, swimming, and more.
For less outdoorsy individuals, Skidmore offers plenty of on-campus pre-orientation options that include opportunities to explore 萨拉托加温泉市, engage in community service, visit local shows and record shops, participate in 剧院, learn about media making with MDOCS (Skidmore’s documentary studies program), or take a look behind the scenes at the 唐氏教学博物馆 and Art Gallery.
As a first-year, I participated in the Wilderness Hiking and Canoeing program. 这些 three days were packed with activities. My group completed an 8-mile hike through the Adirondacks, arriving at an island where we camped and explored for a few days.
We had plenty of time to swim, play games, explore the local area in canoes, have 篝火和星空. On our last morning, we woke up early for a sunrise canoe expedition across 湖 Pleasant and back to base camp, where we reunited with our fellow SCOOP-ers for our journey back to campus.
这些 activities were just the backdrop for the true magic of the program: Bonding 和新朋友在一起. My favorite memories from SCOOP involve the conversations I had with these strangers-turned-close-companions — whether on early morning walks around the island or around the campfire at night. With two eight-person groups and four 的理解 leaders, Wilderness Hiking and Canoeing is a small program, which made 我们更亲密了.
Upperclassmen serve as mentors on every SCOOP trip, passing down valuable advice and serving as models of Skidmore’s kind, community-driven student body. 饰演埃玛琳·雷利亚·斯特朗 '25, a fellow participant in Wilderness Hiking and Canoeing, reflects:
“SCOOP was a great way to meet people, make friends, and orient myself towards Skidmore in an informal way, so I was prepared once I got on campus.”
Now, as a junior, I continue to regard SCOOP as an excellent way for new students to integrate into life at Skidmore. The bonds created through SCOOP are lasting; In the first few weeks of my first year, SCOOP gave me people to go to the dining hall with, helped me recognize friendly faces in my classes, and introduced me to friends to explore downtown 萨拉托加温泉市 with.
Two years later, a handful of the people I met during SCOOP are among my best friends, leaving me forever grateful for this experience.