The Gap Semester kicks off the year for 15 incoming first year students in Wyoming on a 26-day outdoor leadership expedition.
Fifteen incoming students began their ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ experience Aug. 13 through the ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Gap Semester program.
Students representing 11 different states met with Steve Morrison, coordinator of Gap Programs and Rex Waters, dean of student development, in the Denver airport and flew to Wyoming to begin the first part of the program, a 26-day wilderness expedition with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).
Students participated in an ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ orientation to the program, including sessions from the upcoming and on campus orientation students entering campus more traditionally will experience in the coming weeks. Students got to meet the other students with whom they will be spending the semester, talked about what it means to be in a community they will create and be a part of, learned about the honor code and signed the pledge committing themselves to uphold it, discussed a reading about engaged learning, and completed a lab on engaged learning. Students even received acorns symbolizing the beginning of their ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ journey.
Through a NOLS orientation, students and an instructor reviewed and picked up necessary equipment for their expedition, measured food rations for their meals, and learned how to pack their backpacks among other learned skills and behaviors necessary for a successful expedition.
Once complete, the students will travel across the United States stopping in four different communities for weeklong service-learning projects. After a fall break, students will finish their first semester as ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ students in a six-week study abroad homestay program in Costa Rica. They’ll receive credit for COR 110: The Global Experience, four credits under the Civilization heading within the ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Core Curriculum, and one of two required Experiential Learning Requirements (ELRs) that all students need in order to graduate.
Participating in the semester are Cora Abdoo, Brett Ball, Martin Bigatti, David Cocoziello, Sophie Faxon, Devon Funt, Joseph Gray, Cedrik Lendal, Ali Leroy, Aaron Marsh, Daniel Martinez, Megan McKeighan, Anna Rogers, Ginna Royalty, and Becca Surprenant. or .