Outdoor Center has new challenge course
Out on Lake Laurel at GCSU’s East Campus lies the Outdoor Center which provides a home for Outdoor Education, as well as the challenge courses and a venue for Venture Out.
The 30- to 40-foot high challenge courses are more than just fun. Karley Brown, an Outdoor Center assistant believes the courses give its participants a chance to hone certain life skills as well.
“We are focused on communication and trust,” Brown said. “It’s also about getting the students to be better leaders.”
The Outdoor Center is open to more than just students. Groups using them have ranged from those at Chick-fil-A to Buffingtons.
The challenge courses have also caused some worry about safety. The courses are designed so that they cannot be easily accessible when the staff of the Outdoor Center is not present. For example, most of the support beams don’t have the industrial staples used for climbing until about 15 to 20 feet in the air to keep unauthorized access at a minimum.
“The courses are a huge liability,” Brown said. “We have to make sure we lock up all the ladders along with all the orange notice signs (which read ‘No Trespassing).’ ”
A few renovations at the Outdoor Center have been needed to keep up operations at the facility. The driveway up to the lodge is narrow and causes some issues of safety because it is so close to water.
“We’ve had a few bus drivers refuse to drive up to the lodge,” Brown said.
The lodge is getting some new renovations of its own. It was built in 1940 with its original purpose being to house a custodian. Now the facility houses the Outdoor Education offices. The lodge recently had air conditioning and heating installed, but new renovations pertaining to assisting with Outdoor Education classes are incoming.
“We are working on upgrading the technology (at East Campus),” director of the Outdoor Center, Liz Speelman, said. “We will be getting new computers and projectors.”
Unfortunately, these renovations have caused most of the outdoor education classes to be moved to the main campus this year.
The way they are currently set up, outdoor education classes are mainly only taken by outdoor education majors. Speelman is hoping to give students opportunities to take outdoor education classes as electives.
“We want to open up our outdoor education classes to the other students (at GCSU),” Speelman said.
Venture Out moved under the umbrella of Outdoor Center this past August. Earlier this month, on the weekend of Oct. 17-18, Venture Out went whitewater rafting and Nov. 4 it will be holding an event for skydiving.
“Venture Out is our public service arm that offers events at a low cost to students,” Speelman said.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 30 2009. Filed under News.
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