What to Expect
A place to belong...
52 First-Year Students, 8 Student Guides, 4 Teams, 2 Community Leaders- all doing life together on the 4th floor of Penland Hall. OA LLC students are part of a cohort (17 students) that help the larger community feel smaller. It's in this cohort that students will experience the LLC class, share their story, and get to know former OA LLC students. The OA LLC does a lot outside of the cohort: dinners at Penland Hall, invitations to boulder, movie nights, hammock parties, slack lining, and a lot of studying. The students of the OA LLC are from any majors/degree programs at Baylor. They come ready to dig deep into their academics while at the same time, being interested in developing holistically.
A Place to Do Adventure...
Outdoor Adventure LLCers are pre-registered for the Outdoor Adventure Sports class. This is a unique opportunity only open to OA LLC students. Skills developed in this class include Outdoor Living/Backpacking, Rock Climbing and Beginning Mountain Biking. Here are other ways to engage adventure...
First Weekend Retreat: Students will begin their year in the Outdoor Adventure LLC with events to welcome them into the program. During this time, we ask the question, "Who are we and what are we going to be about as a community?"
Weekend Trips: We will take some amazing weekend or day trips throughout the year! Those include climbing at Reimers Ranch, bike packing in the Sam Houston National Forest or kayaking on the San Marcos river.
Fall Break: As part of the Outdoor Adventure Sports class, every LLC student will choose one of 4 fall break trips- backpacking in Arkansas climbing the Wichita National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, kayaking the san marcos river or biking in one of the great Texas parks These trips provide a great respite from classwork, engagement with fellow students, and immersion in the beauty of Fall.
Spring Break: Spring break is for those who want to take their outdoor adventure experiences to deeper levels. Each spring we run two trips to national parks in the West. Past trips have been backpacking in the Grand Canyon and climbing in the world class area of Joshua Tree and paddling the Rio Grande through Boquillas Canyon.
Optional Activities: In addition to the required elements of the Outdoor Adventure LLC, there will be many more optional opportunities for you to get hands-on experiences in the field. We hope you will participate in some or all of these as well. For example: Wilderness First Responder Courses, Spring Break trips, Bear Climb competition, May Minimester 21-day Wilderness Tripping Course.
A Place to Jump Off...
The program strikes a balance between getting students involved in the LLC and creating the space for students to get involved in Baylor. All our students are involved in multiple programs at Baylor - whether those are academic, service, sport, job or social focused. Baylor has hundreds of organizations to create the Baylor experience.
"In the LLC, we are about more than adventure. We do adventure with a purpose. It's through doing adventure with a community of peers, mentors and instructors that we all develop deeper skills and knowledge. Specifically, we focus on growing in the areas of relationship, resilience, responsibility and growth. This happens through many ways in the LLC including: the Outdoor Adventure Sports class, optional adventure day trips, peer mentors, your team, adventure documentary nights, community dinners, service structures, and retreats. This is a community for students who choose to engage and challenge themselves."
-David Copeland, Director