Weinstein Center gives students 'Natural High'

The Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness has increased its focus on its Outdoor Adventure Program this year, providing opportunities for students to participate in healthy recreational activities off campus.

Outdoor Adventure includes Natural High adventure trips, the Team Odyssey High Ropes course and outdoor equipment rental. The first Natural High trip of the spring semester will be a night of skiing or snowboarding at the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Va., on Feb. 13. The trip includes transportation, a ski lesson, a lift ticket, snacks and ski rental. Because the university subsidized the $1,500 needed for the trip, students will pay $40, or $25 if they have their own skis, said Tom Roberts, director of Recreation and Wellness. SpiderCard payment was accepted and there was a "blizzard box" snowflake raffle in the Commons for a free trip.

The school will transport 90 people in two buses, and 10 to 20 others will drive on their own, said Kerry McClung, manager of Outdoor Adventure, Sports Clubs and Facilities.

Including the 20-person waitlist, there was a 225 percent increase in interest from peak attendance of the most popular trips in the past, such as G-Force Karts and whitewater rafting.

"I think there's a real demand for these things," Roberts said. "We just haven't made it a high enough priority. Bringing Kerry on board is progress."

McClung graduated from the University of Richmond in 2007 and was hired full-time in January to improve planning and marketing of the Outdoor Adventure initiatives. Senior Julia Rees has also been working as the Natural High assistant since last January and has been instrumental in planning exciting trips and creating effective marketing plans, McClung said.

"When I started, it was almost like pulling teeth to spread the word and people kept asking, 'What's Natural High?'" Rees said. "But now, I'll be walking through the Commons and overhear people talking about the ski trip or the high ropes course, and it's so nice knowing that people are really getting excited about this."

The high ropes course, built last April by Alpine Towers International, is also a new development for Recreation and Wellness. It's a relatively new course design called Odyssey 3, which, according to the Alpine Towers design guide, focuses on "small teams working together to successfully complete the course" and includes a 50-foot zip line.

Although the university owns the course, the Doswell, Va.-based Challenge Discovery program runs it. Any group of at least eight people can contact McClung to set up a high ropes experience, she said. Outdoor Adventure is also hosting two "Family and Friends Days at the Odyssey Course" on March 7 and April 4, during which students, faculty and staff can sign up to go on the high ropes course, she said.

Natural High has done high ropes trips in the past, but McClung is still looking for suggestions from students, she said. There are typically three trips per semester and she has already received requests for disc-golf, paintball, laser tag and even hang-gliding, she said.

Roberts started the program 15 years ago "to try to provide alternative outdoor programs scheduled during typical times that students might indulge in unhealthy behaviors." As a member of the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, he was informed of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education grant, which provided $1,000 of seed money to start advertising and getting support for Natural High, he said.

Programs in the past have included a tubing trip down the James River on the Saturday of Freshmen Orientation, which is an opportunity to introduce about 160 freshmen to Richmond areas such as Pony Pasture. Other trips have included rock climbing at Peak Experiences Indoor Rock Climbing Center in Richmond and hiking at Crabtree Falls, the largest vertical-drop waterfall east of the Mississippi River.

Outdoor Adventure also rents camping equipment such as tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, air mattresses, coolers and a volleyball system for those who want to go hiking or camping on their own in areas such as the Blue Ridge Parkway or Virginia Beach. There are even opportunities to go caving in places such as the Shenandoah Valley, Middlesboro or New Market.

"My goal would be for the high ropes course to be part of the orientation program and a part of each year of the UR experience," Roberts said. "I would like the six Natural High trips to be something students look forward to every year and every weekend for our equipment to be checked out because students are off campus and outdoors."

Rees said being outdoors and doing these kinds of activities had kept her grounded when school got overwhelming.

"I think students always want to do these things, but they didn't know about it," McClung said. "I can try to package the program in a way that makes students want to go as opposed to just thinking it's a nice idea."

McClung said living off campus had helped her get to know Richmond, and she discovered fun and inexpensive activities around the James River -- tubing with a dollar-store raft, the rope swing, Pony Pasture, Belle Isle and Hollywood Rapid, the natural slide at the Pump House near Nickel Bridge, picnics by the rocks at 42nd Street, disc-golf at one of three courses in Richmond, the obstacle course at Byrd Park and free live music in the spring and summer on Brown's Isle.

"[Outdoor Adventure] is a great opportunity for students to 'break out of the bubble' and do something completely different," Rees said. "Not only is it a great stress reliever to either go outside for a while or do something physically active, but it's a great way to meet people who have similar interests."

Contact staff writer Avril Lighty at avril.lighty@richmond.edu