My Work-Study with Ferrum Outdoors!

by Cari A., Panther Blogger

For those of you who read my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I mention the Freshman Scholars Program quite often. This is another one of those times where that program set in motion a lot of things I have now.  One that I am very proud and honored to have is my work-study position with Ferrum Outdoors. I was first introduced to the program when Aaron Conover and Dan Caston brought our Scholars group together to form a family.

During our time with Aaron and Dan, we were challenged to perform tasks that could ONLY be performed with every single member of our team. We as a team worked with balance, communication, problem-solving, and - my personal favorite - trust. We had all just met 11 new and different people, and this exercise not only tested our individual willpower to overcome our own limits, it also forced each of us out of our comfort zones to meet and connect with the 11 other people with whom we would be spending 2 full weeks. This event not only formed several friendships with people I still call friends now, but it showed me that this was something I wanted to do during my four years here at Ferrum.

Since this past summer, I have been hired with Ferrum Outdoors as a recreational leader and have been leading events such as caving, scuba diving rock climbing, kayaking, and most recently, skiing and snowboarding. These trips are all things that appeal to me in different ways. Being a pre-med major, most of my time is spent in a lab studying chemistry or biology, so to get the opportunity to step back from that and go completely out of my major is absolutely keeping me sane!  Through working with Ferrum Outdoors, I have met a whole different part of the campus population here because this activity is so far out of my element. I am very glad that I found Ferrum Outdoors because it has been a major component in keeping me involved at Ferrum and enjoying every minute of being a student here!  Taking the time to relax and take a break from the class work is exactly what every student needs.

- Cari