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Outdoor Program Gets New Leadership
by Matt Davis
Grant Gosch
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To promote outdoor activities Mars Hill College has hired an experienced outdoorsman able to lead trips ranging from sea kayaking to skiing.
Grant Gosch, 26, will work about 20 hours a week to organize and promote outdoor activities and build interest.
Gosch attended Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington and was involved in an outdoor club there. He pursued alpine climbing and developed a passion for sea kayaking. He has guided sea-kayaking trips near the San Juan Islands in Washington's Puget Sound and just recently completed the sea-kayaking instructor's course conducted by the National Outdoor Leadership School, also in the Pacific Northwest.
He is also excited about getting students involved in what could be the next big thing for Mars Hill College, the outdoor program.
Gosch's office is located in the heritage cabin up the hill from Renfroe Library. He is on campus Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Besides getting the outdoor program up and going, he is also interested in starting a Men Against Violence program at the college.
Gosch came to Mars Hill College by chance. He moved from Washington to Asheville with an interest in getting involved with collegiate outdoor programs. He happened to meet college counselor Jane Carter and heard about her efforts to promote outdoor activities. Gosch's main goals right now are to get people interested in hiking and camping and to get a gear closet set up for students who do not have their own camping and hiking supplies.
The idea for this new outdoor program came from Counselor Jane Carter and Admissions Officer David Greer. These two were brainstorming over the summer and decided that the plethora of outdoor activities at the college's doorstep called for an organization to take advantage of what this area has to offer. They also felt that getting students involved through the outdoors would create a healthier campus.
They wanted to create an environment outside of the classroom where students would be able to build leadership qualities while doing outdoor activities. Their research showed that at other institutions, being involved with the outdoors has actually improved students' grades and prepared them for lifetime lessons.
Carter and Greer marketed this new idea to students by just getting people to talk about it. They spread the word to faculty, staff, and students and got some very positive feedback. Interest cards were sent out to all students this past summer. Twelve percent of the freshmen class and ten percent of returning students responded.
A website, http://www.mhc.edu/outdoor, linked to the college's homepage and to The Hilltop's Outdoor Corner, will enable students to keep up with upcoming outdoor events as well as check out the local outdoor area locations. If interested one can e-mail Grant Gosch at outdoor@mhc.edu.
Carter and Gosch both said they want to get the most possible out of this area and show students what it has to offer so that more people will organize their own trips with their friends.
Douglas Falls - Melanie King Photo
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Some outings now under discussion include local hikes to Lovers Leap in Hotsprings, Douglas Falls in the Coleman Boundary, and cleaning up the new trial up Bailey Mountain.
Gosch wants to build up membership in the program by keeping everything local, but he wants to keep everyone's interest by being able to go to a wide range of areas. Eventually he wants to be able to go out West with this program. Gosch said the point of this would be to expand the students' views of what kind of activities are available.
Gosch commented that his main focus now is on the freshmen because they are not plugged into anything yet, but he would like to involve anyone who is interested. An Admissions Office brochure promoting the college with the slogan "location, location, location," has to do with the outdoors. Gosch wants to cater to that idea by really pushing outdoor involvement among new students.
Gosch and Carter also looked at things from an academic prospective. Biology, English, psychology, and business ethics can all be studied in the outdoors. For example, biology deals with plants and animals and English deals with nature poetry. The more students get involved, the more these academic doors will be opened to them, they say.
The core group promoting the outdoor initiative consists of group leader Gosch, Counselor Jane Carter, and a group of about ten students.
The group is also interested in working with the Recreation and Physical Education departments by getting students involved through those majors and maybe even getting some credit while out in the field.
An alternative learning environment
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In the future Gosch wants to market the outdoor program through the Wilderness Sports Program. The WSP is a camp held on campus each summer where academically gifted freshmen are invited to come here and get involved in outdoor activities. Along with the WSP, Gosch wants to do a summer wilderness orientation for any interested incoming students. This orientation would include hiking, camping, rafting and other activities, as well as introducing the students to the local area so that they know where the areas of interest are.
Gosch would also like to develop the outdoor program website a little bit more so that students can really count on that website for information and updates about future events.
"Being in the outdoors can teach people valuable lessons in life that they can use forever", says Gosch about what the outdoors has done for him and what he has seen that it has done for others. "I have been in so much sea kayaking and seen so many beautiful things that I cannot help but reflect on those times and what they meant for me. Gosch said that eventually he wants the outdoor program to be completely student-led and that he wants these students to be paid for their leadership. Gosch said that he wants to facilitate and the students to lead.
Currently, the outdoor program is trying to raise money for itself by doing some fundraisers and working with the school to try and come up with some kind of budget. The thing that Gosch wants to accomplish is to "find ways for this club to be affordable for people to get involved."
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