Wilderness Welcome

Wilderness Welcome has been a highlight of the college experience for many students at UAF.  Participants enjoy the opportunity to explore remote locations, and make friends before the semester starts.  

Wilderness Welcome is a four day wilderness orientation trip put on by Outdoor Adventures, part of the Department of Recreation, Adventure, and Wellness.  New students arrive at UAF one week ahead of regular student orientation.  They get picked up from the airport, and move into their dorm rooms early.  Prior to the start of the trip students spend an orientation day on campus with their trip leaders.  Guides give brief tours, help student find places on campus, take them to get polar express cards, and ensure all participants are ready for their trip.  This day is filled with new faces, and opportunities to get to know your fellow participants.  

The following day begins the outdoor adventures.  There are a variety of trips offered, which in the past have included backpacking, Canoeing, Rafting, and Kayaking.  Each trip is special in its own way, whether it includes a little white water paddling, wildlife viewing, or breath taking vistas of Denali.  Students return to campus after four days and three nights in the wilderness of Alaska, just in time for New Student Orientation to begin the next day.  Wilderness Welcome participants have something extra to start the new school year with.  They have experiences, and a friend base that they can value for their entire college career, and more.  

For more information on Wilderness Welcome you can check out the website of Outdoor Adventures here:

http://www.uaf.edu/draw/outdoor-adventures/wilderness-welcome/

You can also find UAF Outdoor Adventures on Facebook.  

Survival Tips for Freshmen!

Survival tips for freshmen

In two years here at UAF I have learned countless things, but as far as getting through school with respectable grades and maintaining some level of fun, there are a handful of things you really need to know.

First off, don’t take too many classes right off the bat. I know way too many people who come in to college expecting to do as well as they did in high school and they think taking six classes will be easy. College is harder than high school, and you’re expected to do more out of class work and studying than in high school. You can still graduate in four years even if you only take 13 or 14 credits each semester your first year. If you load yourself up with 18 credits thinking you’re only taking easy classes, you’re going to regret it when you’re trying to study for six finals and all you want to think about is winter or summer break. Especially in a spring like this one, where I haven’t seen a cloud in the sky in over a week, all I want to do is be outside.  Nobody wants to lock themselves in their dorm or the library studying for finals for the last two weeks of the year.

Secondly, take some fun classes! UAF has an entire recreation department that has a ton of awesome classes to take. One fun class in your schedule makes the semester way better, and recreation classes rarely, if ever, have homework or any out of class work time required. Many of the classes offered through Outdoor Adventures have field trips for climbing, mountaineering, camping, and skiing.

Next, stay on top of things, and don’t procrastinate. This is something I still need to learn myself, but occasionally when I do get my things done early it takes a huge weight off my back and I can go climb or ski and not feel guilty about not doing my homework!

Corollary: It is way easier to get homework done in the library or study room than in your dorm or apartment. There are tons of distractions in dorms so if you get down to the library you’ll find yourself being much more productive.

Finally, and this one may seem obvious, but make friends, go hang out with people, have fun! If you bury yourself in class work all year you’re going to go insane, so relax! You don’t want to overstress about school otherwise it will end up hurting your grades.

Everybody has their own advice to give, but these are the things I have found most helpful, hopefully they work for you too!

Living with liberal arts (what will your major be?)…

Now, judging by the title, one might assume I am a liberal arts major so wrapped up in studies and so passionate about my degree that I have no free time.   Or by the lack of punctuation and grammar, you might think otherwise.   I am actually a petroleum engineer living in an on campus student apartment (http://www.alaska.edu/uajourney/buildings/cutler-apartments/), with 3 roommates and hardly any free time.  These roommates are all studying different areas, all in the College of Liberal Arts.  We take none of the same classes and probably never will at this point in our college careers.  The four of us represent the majors of: psychology, journalism, foreign languages and linguistics, petroleum engineering. 

Picking a major for some students is a long thought out logical process, a childhood dream, or just opening a catalog and pointing at a major.  My roommates and I all had different ways of picking what we were going to study at college.  Each method worked out pretty well though, since we would be lost if someone switched our shoes for even a day.  When comparing homework, Russian, Spanish, and even English look Greek to me… but low and behold my journalism roommate thinks I am an Excel master, when crunching numbers for a lab report.  My roommates and I are all juniors this year and we all seem to embody our majors.  Now the real question is, do our majors influence and shape who we are, or when picking a major do we pick who we want to be? 

No matter what the answer is, picking a major is important.  I would never want to be looking for typos in a newspaper and my roommates wouldn’t want to calculate the permeability of a reservoir.  So when choosing a major make sure to think to the future and what the title means you will be doing, not just how the words look in the catalog or online(http://www.uaf.edu/catalog/current/majors.html).  Ask questions about majors to the UAF Student Ambassadors (http://www.uaf.edu/ambassadors/), talk to people in your community, take a tour of the college campus and get connected with resources that can help you through your transition to college!  I lucked out when an engineering pamphlet showed up in my mailbox and I decided that was the day to choose my major.  Honestly though, I had no real idea of what petroleum engineering or what a petroleum engineer was.  I knew I liked math and science so I figured engineering should be the path for me.  The petroleum industry was an area of interest for me spurred on by growing up in Alaska, but I had no idea that petroleum engineering has four main branches that can be pursued, after and during college. 

I really enjoy what I am studying, but petroleum engineering isn’t for everyone.  There are so many choices, because we are all individuals.  I urge you to explore them and find the one that will grasp your attention and possibly define who you are.        

My roommates and I before heading to the toga dance together! :)

Staying active in the winter months

 The long winters here in Fairbanks give you ample time to get out and discover the season’s numerous activities. Whether you prefer skiing, snowboarding, ice climbing, snowshoeing, or just wandering around, Fairbanks is one of the best places for it.

Here at UAF not only do we have on-campus ski and snowshoe trails to spend the day exploring with friends, but we also have a brand new Terrain Park (the first on-campus park in the US!), an Ice Tower, and are in close proximity to a few downhill skiing and snowboarding destinations.

One of the more unique features of UAF is our Outdoor Adventure program.  OA allows you to go on trips all year long and explore Alaska. Examples from this past month of March are the Tanana River Skate Ski, the White Mountains Cabin Overnight trip, and the Skate Skiing Weekend Clinic series. All events are staffed by capable OA employees and are always guaranteed to be fun! Costs vary from trip to trip, but it is always a bargain for the amount that you can get out of it! Their website typically has a list of the whole semester’s activities to help you plan for the overnight trips in advance. In addition to hosting the trips, they also have equipment to rent out to students at an affordable price so you are able to explore the campus or other trails all on your own!                       

In addition to all of the opportunities OA offers, there is always a choice to remain active without going out into the cold! The SRC is open from 5:30am-10pm Monday through Friday, 9am-10pm Saturday’s, and 12-7pm on Sundays, and throughout the week we have a lot of classes offered to keep you active and moving! In addition to that you can work out on your own, or climb on the rockwall. Students are known to gather their friends and play pick-up basketball and volleyball games on the weekends, as well as participating in Intramurals during the week! As a student, you also have the ability to go swimming at the pool to burn off some extra energy!

Whether your preference for staying active during the long winters keeps you inside or takes you to the great outdoors, there are a lot of opportunities at UAF!

Spring 2013 at UAF

With our annual tradition of Springfest coming soon, and finals just a few short weeks away, I started thinking about this semester, and all the awesome things that have happened. First off, what a huge success the Nanook Terrain Park has been! UAF is the first college in the United States that has a ski and snowboard terrain park on campus! Even better, it is still in use, IN MID APRIL! How cool is that?! This semester brought me into the mountains on many occasions and I am so grateful that I’ve had the opportunities to do my first summit ascent, and got to go backcountry skiing for a week over spring break in the incredible Chugach Mountains of South central Alaska. If you enjoy being in the mountains, there is one class that you absolutely need to take here at UAF, and that class is Intro to Mountaineering! The two -credit recreation class has been the best class I’ve taken yet. It taught me safe glacier travel, crevasse rescue, avalanche safety, winter camping, and alpine climbing techniques.  With multiple overnight trips, our class became a tight group of friends, and everybody had an awesome time on our climbs. We were the first class to have everybody summit Panorama Peak, just North of Cantwell.  If you enjoy being outdoors, UAF is a great place that balances classroom education and real-life outdoor learning environments! 

The dry life

Dry Cabin Living:

One of the many awesome aspects of Fairbanks is: living without running water is not unusual. Frankly, if you come to UAF, I don’t think you can truly call yourself a Nanook until you have dived into the dry-lifestyle. I have been without running water for almost two years and, I love it!

Fairbanks, and the University, are setup to accommodate those of us who choose to live the dry-lifestyle. The UAF Wood Center has shower and laundry facilities. Other areas of campus also have shower facilities, including the swimming pool and the Student Recreation Center (some are private). I tend to do my water duties at the UAF Honors House.

(My two dogs chewing on moose legs in our yard. The outhouse is nestled nicely in the trees.)

My two dogs chewing on moose legs in our
yard. The outhouse is nestled nicely
in the trees

Living in a dry cabin is pretty easy once you figure out a few things. One, invest in a tub to do the dishes in. Two, get used to boiling water to do dishes. Three, find something that is good at squirting water for rinsing the dishes. I personally use an old soap container, this helps conserve water. Four, get a nice piece of styrofoam cut a toilet size hole in it, and put in your outhouse (the styrofoam makes the winter outhouse use a lot more comfortable). Five, invest in some 5-gallon jugs for hauling water. I would recommend at least 4 jugs, that way you aren’t constantly worrying about running out of water. If you do run out of water in the winter it isn’t a big deal because you can just melt snow. Melting snow takes a long time though, so I wouldn’t recommend making this a habit.

One of my favorite parts about Fairbanks is the Water Wagon. The Water Wagon is like a gas station, but instead of pumping gas, it pumps water. The machines are coin operated, and it only takes quarters and nickels. Another great spot to grab water is the Fox Springs located right off the Elliot highway. It is fresh spring water, and it is free. The only cost is the drive. Thankfully the Fox spring is really close to Silver Gulch, a brewery and restaurant. So if you go all the way out to Fox, I recommend going to Silver Gulch and grabbing a nice snack.

The blue jug is for fresh water, the grey pan is for drip/slop water

The best part of living in a dry cabin is watching peoples reaction when you tell them that you don’t have running water. I’m not even going to try and explain it, you’ll just have to give it a try for yourself!

College Survival

Dear potential and current students,

Let me remind you that college is hard. I know you hear that college is all wild-times and great fun, but it won’t last long unless you pass your classes (or perhaps you just really enjoy burning all your money on tuition for nothing in return). Either way, college doesn’t last forever (although it may seem like it) and there is definitely a right way and a wrong way to do it.

Maybe you have been warned before: freshman year makes or breaks students. This is the proving ground. Kids show up, kids party too hard, kids go home to their parents and get employed at McDonalds.

OR, kids show up, balance their homework and social life, get their own apartment and make their parents happy.

Look, I realize it’s a lot easier said than done. It isn’t hard to make it through some of your classes, but the real deal is that you have to put some time and effort into them. Use your resources, I promise your classmates don’t bite (let’s not debate this one). Get their help even if you think you can do it all on your own. If you’re one of the students determined to finish a program at a reasonable pace, you will understand how heavy your load will be at some points. At times, it can be a pretty scary thing to face. Having a solid group of peers to collaborate with can make you feel a lot more comfortable carrying a mountain of schoolwork on your shoulders.

As a Junior, in UAF’s Mining Engineering program, I have seen my share of loaded weekends—it takes a lot of patience to get through them. I know many of you readers are in high school or somewhere along those lines, and it comes pretty naturally to procrastinate with your schoolwork. Here is a survival tool you may have never even thought to use – Don’t Procrastinate! I know, I know! It seems crazy. Doing homework BEFORE it is due? No way!

Look at your assignment a few days before you even plan on working on it. Now, think of a plan. What is your approach to the homework? Do you have a clear idea of what topic you will write on, or what methods you will use to solve the problem? If your answer is no, fix the issue. Brainstorm in your time away from the assignment, browse through your text to find a method to solve the problem, or even ask a friend. Jot some notes down and come back to it later.

If you can manage this, you will be making a lot more progress than you may think. By looking over and doing this assessment you plant the information in your brain and create an incubation period. This period allows for your brain to develop the problem and give you direction when you sit down to finish the problem.

Finally, sit down with time to spare and get to work. If you have two days left, do half of your project now and half later if you want. Just make sure you eliminate some of your work so that you have less of it weighing on you at the last minute. It will make you feel busier and likely more confident in your work when it is finished.

And yes, I know it is a little late in the semester to be giving this advice (and, by no means do I manage to stay on top of my own workload 100%) but college is about showing commitment to learning, and doing the work one way or another is what ultimately matters the most.  

Good Luck,

Alex