For this year’s new students, Thefacebook.com was a popular way to meet one another prior to arriving on campus — but it wasn’t the only one. Fifty of this year’s freshmen and transfer students traveled to the Sierra Nevada mountains for five days of backpacking and bonding last week.

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Jake Oktawiec

Students return to campus from the preorientation wilderness hiking trip

In its second year for transfer students and first for freshmen, the Stanford Pre-Orientation Trip program was organized by the New Student Orientation staff and led by undergraduate and graduate students.

“The purpose of these trips is to meet other new students and to learn more about Stanford and about yourself, and also to learn some basic wilderness skills and, of course, to have fun,” said NSO Director Jared Scherer.

The program, similar to ones offered at other universities like Princeton and Dartmouth, did just that for freshman Sam Shrank.

“There is nothing like starting Stanford with eleven new friends,” Shrank said.

In the fall of 2003, the program was offered only to transfer students. But this year, it was open to freshmen from the Northeast who might benefit from a smoother east-to-west-coast transition. In total, 27 freshmen (out of 50 who applied) and 23 transfers attended; in 2003, 29 transfers participated. This year, 13 trip leaders oversaw six groups of seven to 10 new students.

The goal of the program is to acclimate new students to Stanford, according to one of the program’s coordinators, Sarah Rubinfeld, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering.

“Those who participated in SPOT last fall have consistently rated it as one of their best experiences at Stanford. The transfer advisors who work with them have raved about the impact the program made in their adjustment to campus life,” Rubinfeld said.

The undergraduate and graduate trip leaders are responsible for teaching students basic survival skills and for imparting knowledge about campus life. Rubinfeld said that the trip leaders as the “single biggest impact on the participants’ experience,” since each is responsible for establishing a positive environment during the outing.

Unlike last year, every team leader this year underwent an extensive training program that covered leadership skills, group dynamics, technical wilderness skills, wilderness first aid and risk management. Rubinfeld said the advance training was designed to attract more trip leaders by offering valuable experience to students who were interested in leading outdoor trips but were not sure where to start.

“The leadership training, followed by a chance to put it into action, was a great learning experience,” said Mason Curry, Class of 2004.

Geremy Heitz, who led a trip for the second time this year, said that the program makes an “invaluable contribution” to orientation programming. “It’s amazing to see a group of total strangers come together and form such strong bonds in less than a week. These friendships will ease their entrance into a new community,” Heitz, a graduate student in electrical enginnering, said.

Program coordinators plan to expand the program gradually in order to maintain a high level of quality. “Stanford and the Office of Freshmen and Transfer Students are committed to continuing this program in the future,” Scherer said.

Rubinfeld said that a part of the program’s appeal was because it can accommodate a broad range of students.

“It’s for students who are nervous about Stanford, and excited about Stanford, and everything in between. It’s for students who love backpacking, and students who have never been backpacking before but have always wanted to try.

“It’s for current students and other members of the university who care about helping new students adjust to life at Stanford.”