Students Discover Fun And Adventure In Emory & Henry Outdoor Program

By Allen Gregory
Sports Writer / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: September 3, 2008

Virginia Lamb came to Emory & Henry College to expand her mind.
That process has taken the senior on an expedition of the Rio Grande and a kayak run down the Lower Nolichucky River at flood stage.

Lamb participates in the E&H Outdoor Program, which began with an ambitious plan to form a club in the late 1990s and earned official status in 2005.

It’s all been a labor of love for Jim Harrison, an English professor who doubles as program director.

Harrison arrived at E&H in the fall of 1998 shortly after completing a southbound hike of the Appalachian Trail. At the time, there was no functioning outdoor group on the scenic campus in rural Washington County, Va.

“I was chocked full ‘o some outdoor enthusiasm and fresh out of the gate,” Harrison said. “I began putting energy into an outdoor club and requesting funds and resources, and the thing grew like mad.
“Before long, students wanted to do much more than hike and backpack — they wanted to go rock climbing, caving, paddling, and cross-country skiing.”

With the assistance of other professors and former E&H president Tom Morris, Harrison’s brainchild was launching 30 trips a year by 2004.

“We were having to store gear in the corners of offices and the nooks and crannies of our garages,” Harrison said.
“Everyone involved was teaching a full load of classes, so I essentially had developed a second full-time job at Emory.”

The E&H adventure seekers plot their fun from a cozy clubhouse located just behind the expanded Fred Selfe Athletic Stadium on the center of campus.
Students come to swap stories, gain knowledge or just decompress from the daily stresses of college life.

“The Outdoor Program has been an incredible experience for me,” E&H senior Ryan Hasty said. “It offers challenging experiences, but at the same time it’s not about being extreme. It’s also about reconnecting humans with the natural world and facilitating the development of backcountry leadership skills.”

In addition to rock climbing, caving, and long-distance backpacking trips, Hasty said he has especially enjoyed the annual hike into the Grayson Highlands State Park during peak blueberry season.

Lamb and Hasty are members of the Outdoor Leadership Program, an outlet designed for students eager to develop advanced skills and certification.

“The other members of the leadership program have become something of a second family,” Lamb said. “The skills that I’ve picked up helped me get a job guiding rafts on the Ocoee River.”

After mastering raging rapids and earning her certification as a rafting guide on the famed Ocoee in Polk County, Tenn., it’s easy to develop self-confidence and people skills.

“The (Outdoor) program has helped me tremendously to develop as a person,” Lamb said. “I think my favorite experience as a leader is watching people have that moment where everything makes sense and everything they’ve worked for comes to fruition.”

For Harrison, those type of affirming stories make the long hours worthwhile and fuel his motivation.

“The success stories with the Leadership Program have been huge,” Harrison said.

Highlights include spring break expeditions in Big Bend National Park, paddling the canyons of the Rio Grande and the Buffalo National River in Arkansas, and kayaking the coastal wilderness of Everglades National Park.

“And in the spring of 2009, the members of the leadership program plan to drive our new bus powered by vegetable oil,” Harrison said.

Last year, the E&H Outdoor Program sponsored 57 events with more than 400 participant. Those events included trips and skill-building clinics.
“We’re a small program at a small school doing really big things,” Harrison said.

Harrison’s star pupils await more challenges.

“The program has challenged me to grow, to really think about and accept my potential, to see nature in a different way, and to have a blast,” Lamb said.

| (276) 645-2544

What: Emory & Henry Outdoor Program

Where: Emory, Va.

Fast Fact: A unique feature of the program is a 40-foot climbing and rappelling tower on the E&H campus

Final Word: “I would like to bring the Outdoor Program abroad – to Europe, the Himalayas, South America, etc.” Harrison said. “I would like to see the E&H banner on the peak of an 18,000-foot mountain in the next three years.  We are considering Orizaba, one of the volcanoes in Mexico.”