For the past two semesters, curiosity and confusion have surrounded the elusive one-credit wilderness survival class. It has been listed under the Sports Studies section of the course offerings, the instructor as Associate Dean of Men Jeffery Rogers.
Although the class has been offered to students twice, it has never been taught. However, it is on the docket again and, pending approval from Director of Athletics Don Brubacher, it will be offered this spring.
Rogers dreamt up the idea for the class with the former Director of Security, Chris Martini. Their goal was to create a course together that students would enjoy and benefit from.
Before the course could get under way, however, Martini left Hillsdale and Rogers cancelled the course. The following semester’s class schedule for fall 2013 also listed the wilderness course, but Registrar Douglas McArthur said it was merely a mistake on the listing. It was removed before final registration occurred.
Prior to this semester’s preregistration process, Rogers discovered that a member of Hillsdale’s security staff, Joey Kellam, is a Department of Natural Resources officer. The two have teamed up to create the course that McArthur said will be capped at 15 students.
“Who wouldn’t want to know how to eat bugs, which bugs to eat, that you can eat the root of a dandelion, and also how to build a shelter?” Rogers said.
Rogers said they would combine Kellam’s own wilderness survival experience with his own U.S. Navy training. Students would learn about water resources, how to disinfect materials for consumption, how to use fire as a resource, how to start a fire without a lighter, and the usual supplies available in a survival situation, among other lessons.
Senior Rachel Cook said she is interested in the class because walks in Slayton Arboretum always get her wondering if she could survive in that environment for a few days on her own. She used to play a survival game with her younger brother when they were kids.
“We would pretend that we were lost in the middle of nowhere and had to find food and build things,” Cook said. “I took a wilderness survival class when I was twelve or so. I was still pretty young, so they didn’t expect a lot out of us. A significant part of the class was reading ‘Hatchet’ and making an outdoor survival kit.”
She is not alone in expressing interest among the student body. Many have said the idea of eating bugs intrigues and frightens them.
“I have never signed up before for this class,” Cook said. “I have always been a bit nervous about what it would entail. I’m not very strong, so I’m not very good at carrying giant logs or anything like that. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience everyone else in the class.”
Rogers was adamant that no physical requirements are necessary for the course, and that there are other things in nature to eat besides bugs – like the chicory and the poke root, used for tea and salad, respectively.
“Students ask, ‘do you have to be physically fit to do the wilderness course?’ I said, ‘no, just be OK with eating bugs,’ and that intrigues them. Not the kind with chocolate on it, but raw, without chocolate,” Rogers said. He then added that “people don’t have to eat them. We will just talk about that.”
