FacebookSending your kids off to school can be an incredible challenge, let alone dropping them off early to head off into the wilderness!! It has been exhaustively researched that in providing a challenging adventure experience to incoming students increases connectivity, encourages new, positive behaviors in participants, teaches them about healthy risk taking, and eases them into college life. It’s also a fantastic way for them to learn through their trip leaders loads about the Lyndon community and how to avoid some of the classic pitfalls of first year students. It also begins new, common experience relationships that can be touchstones for them during low or difficult times in their first year and beyond. I still hear from many of the LOOPers from years past as they update me on their whereabouts, doings, and lives. On other web pages connected to LOOP we have tried to provide as much information as possible regarding the program and what to expect, but that doesn’t mean we’ve managed to explain it all! If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to call me, Jamie Struck, at 802.626.4870 or drop me an email at Jamie.Struck@lyndonstate.edu.
All of our trip leaders are current in Wilderness First Aid and CPR and are held to a high standard of Leave No Trace ethics, group development programming and leadership. All of our leaders are current or past LSC students who have a passion for leading people in the outdoors and many are past LOOPers. All trip leaders are required to participate in a three day training and refresher course right before LOOP so that they are dialed in to current methods and practices. Trips are designed to provide challenges for a wide range of abilities, without being overwhelming. Your child’s accurate and realistic statement of their physical abilities will help us place them appropriately in the LOOP program if they haven’t taken the time to choose from our trip selection. Many LOOPers who have thought that they couldn’t “make it” have often surprised themselves by staying on their feet, moving forward and upward to find that they indeed, have what it takes to complete their trip. It is a great talking point for us when we think about coming into college and the challenges ahead.
We do observe a no cell phone policy during the trip portion of the program. Unplugging from the electronic world will give your son or daughter the breather that they need from social media, internet interference and all other kinds of craziness that being constantly tied in provides. This means that participants will be able to concentrate on developing relationships with the people on their trip and themselves. In case of emergency and you need to contact your son or daughter, please contact Elaine Fournier at 802.626.6418 during regular business hours. Outside those hours please contact Public Safety and they will get information to the correct people.
