New Students Head into Great Outdoors
More than 30 new Westmont students will take in part in one of three pre-Orientation adventure programs, including two new programs that include canoeing in Colorado and exploring the Channel Islands. More than a dozen students will trek through the Eastern Sierra as part of Inoculum, a unique trip for incoming students to earn academic and physical education credit.
Students on the Multi-Sport Adventure will explore the Channel Islands and local Santa Barbara area Aug. 19-25, camping, kayaking, hiking, climbing and spending three days on Santa Cruz Island.
The Colorado Canoe Adventure, hosted on the Colorado River in Black Canyon July 27–Aug. 1, took students hiking, canoeing, camping and exploring Colorado’s unique ecosystem. Daniel Clapp, assistant director of campus life, and Tim Van Haitsma, assistant professor of kinesiology, accompanied the trip, which offered students part of a first-year seminar credit.
Paul Willis, Westmont English professor, and Bruce Fisk, professor of religious studies, will lead separate groups on the Inoculum on Aug. 13-25. Eileen McQuade, associate professor of biology, serves as program director. Meagan Stirling, assistant professor of art, and Van Haitsma are assisting with the trip.
Willis, who was a trip leader on the maiden Inoculum in 1974, and his group will be studying John Muir’s “My First Summer in the Sierra,” while Fisk’s group is reading “Who is My Enemy? Questions American Christians Must Face about Islam — and Themselves” by Lee C. Camp. Students lead discussions on the books during backpacking breaks and write a paper later in the semester.
“One of the more pressing questions among students of religion these days concerns Christian-Muslim relations, the subject of Camp's book,” Fisk says. “I travel a lot to the Middle East where I have dear Muslim friends, so this is also personal. This book also offers a nice introduction to Christian ideas about war and peacemaking.”
Fisk spent much of his youth hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing and camping in Ontario, Canada, where he grew up. Though he has bicycled and camped across 1,300 miles of Canada, this will be his first time leading Inoculum in his 17 years at Westmont. “Since coming to California I have enjoyed hiking and cycling the coastal range, but there is nothing like the Sierras to capture the imagination,” Fisk says. “I enjoy a good physical challenge and I delight in pondering big ideas with students. Inoculum is the perfect combination.”
New student Orientation is Aug. 27-30 and the first day of classes at Westmont is Monday, Aug. 31.