Most incoming first-year students spend the days before college shopping for residence hall essentials or learning their way around campus. Sylvia Howell ’30 spent them zooming through whitewater in a raft, soaring down a zip line and swapping stories around the campfire with dozens of classmates who had been strangers just days before.

It was all part of Syracuse University’s Leadership Outdoor Orientation Program (LOOP): Adirondack Adventure. Howell was one of 39 LOOP participants and eight student trip leaders who immersed themselves in outdoor challenges and activities at the Oswegatchie Educational Center in Croghan, New York. The three-day trip in August, hosted by the Barnes Center at The Arch-Outdoor Recreation as part of New Student Programs’ pre-Welcome Week, combined shared adventures and team-building activities that helped the students forge friendships.

“When I discovered LOOP, I was so intrigued by being in a new place but doing the same outdoor activities that I love so much,” says Howell, a neuroscience and biology major and longtime rafting enthusiast from Colorado. “I also knew that the other participants in LOOP must have had some like-minded hobbies and experiences that might give me a great group of adventurous friends.”

She found just what she was looking for. “The diverse, unfamiliar group who embarked on this trip over the course of the few days became connected to one another through each experience,” Howell says. “I am very grateful for the friends I made on this trip because they span a much wider range of social groups than I would have ever been able to dip my toes in had I just jumped right into campus.”

Niles Cowan ’30, a broadcast and digital journalism major from Vancouver, Washington, didn’t know a soul on the East Coast. A climbing instructor and Eagle Scout, Cowan appreciated sharing experiences with the other participants. “Back home I am really into backpacking and camping, so it seemed like a fun experience to meet people,” he says. “The ropes courses were fun, but whitewater rafting was hands-down the highlight of the trip.”

Team Building and Shared Experiences

The night before their departure, the students met on campus for introductions, team building and icebreaker activities. The first night of their Adirondack stay, trip leaders—upper-class students who went through the experience themselves—guided participants through a campfire discussion with games, stories, riddles and an open question forum, all designed to ease the first-year jitters of college life.

“We are all super open about our college experiences and things we have struggled with,” says Jackson Carrier ’27, an architecture major who has been an outdoor adventure trip and LOOP leader with the Barnes Center for three years. “We had a lot of the same fears as freshmen, and it’s good for the participants to see that and know that it all works out. It’s also good for them to see that their peers have the same fears and that they can be there to support each other.”

Finding an Outdoor Community

Back on campus, the adventure continues. Howell and Cowan, for example, have set off on new adventures with the Syracuse University Outing Club. “This experience made me aware of the incredible outdoor experiences here at Syracuse,” Howell says.

For Scott Catucci G’21, associate director of outdoor recreation at the Barnes Center at The Arch, LOOP has been a mainstay program that he launched 21 years ago, the University’s second longest running pre-welcome program for incoming students. He’s grateful for LOOP’s success, saying it gives the students an immediate cohort of friends that grows even more back on campus and over the years has led to lifelong friendships.

“LOOP is good at building community and creating friendships, giving the students a kickstart on their college careers,” says Catucci, who hears from LOOP alumni that say the experience changed their lives. “It really gives them a sense of belonging.”