The Office of Health and Recreation, a subdivision of the student activities office, organized a ski trip Jan. 25 to Bittersweet Ski Lodge. This was its second ski trip. Last year, 45 students attended, but 100 students participated in Saturday’s trip.
Amanda Bigney, director of student activities, said that last year’s trip only needed Hillsdale’s biggest bus and a few cars. This year, the office chartered two buses for the all-day ski trip.
“We started thinking about this last spring,” Bigney said. “Because we got such a great response we’re hoping to do more off campus activities.”
Senior KC Ham went snowboarding last week for her second time, and said she appreciated Health and Rec’s efforts.
“I thought it was great,” she said, “$30 for a lift ticket, rental, transportation, and lunch was really good.”
The Student Activities Office tries to keep an eye out for good prices, Bigney explained. For the ski trip, Student Federation helped subsidize transportation. The Campus Health and Rec office subsidized the rental and lift tickets. In order to keep things as simple as possible, and let students just enjoy the day, the office helped ensure that students’ filled out their paperwork as soon as possible before the actual trip.
“We do all the little stuff,” Bigney said. “We try to make it as easy and affordable and well organized as possible.”
Sophomore Kirklan Ventrella enjoyed the break.
“Skiing is an expensive hobby,” he said, “so it was fantastic to be able to go skiing, be on a slope, even though it was only 300 feet high. It was a blast to be able to get out of Hillsdale for a weekend.”
Ham agreed.
“I think they should get us off campus more often,” she said.
Ventrella thought the ski trip a success and looks forward to future activities.
“I had a great time,” he said, “and it does get me excited when I hear about them putting on large scale events that reach out to the entire campus.”
Bigney said the Student Activities Office recognizes that students want to get off campus once in a while.
“We want to be able to offer at least one off-campus activity per semester,” she said. “We’re thinking about doing some sort of paintball activity in the spring. Details haven’t been hashed out for that.”
The Student Activities Office, in addition to more off-campus events, would like to organize more Student ID deals so that Hillsdale students have more affordable activities available in the surrounding area.
Bigney said that her office wants students’ help coming up with ideas for future activities.
“We can only come up with so much,” she said. “Hopefully we can do more in the next couple years as interest grows and the budget grows.”
