Nearly 800 incoming freshmen are participating in Outdoor Action, the University's oldest and largest pre-orientation program. In addition to outdoor adventure activities such as hiking and rock climbing at various sites from Virginia to New England, some of the Outdoor Action groups engage in service projects. This group is helping to repair trails and bridges at the Princeton-Blairstown Center.
Nearly 800 incoming freshmen are participating in Outdoor Action, the University's oldest and largest pre-orientation program. In addition to outdoor adventure activities such as hiking and rock climbing at various sites from Virginia to New England, some of the Outdoor Action groups engage in service projects. This group is helping to repair trails and bridges at the Princeton-Blairstown Center.
Jeremy Kasdin, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, joins an Outdoor Action group each year to meet the new freshmen, help guide the student leaders and take part in some climbing activities.
Jeremy Kasdin, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, joins an Outdoor Action group each year to meet the new freshmen, help guide the student leaders and take part in some climbing activities.
Outdoor Action photos by Brian Wilson
Nearly 800 members of Princeton's newest undergraduate class are preparing for the start of their freshman year by confronting physical challenges and forging bonds with their classmates through the Outdoor Action pre-orientation program.
Diane Jeon (left) congratulates classmate Hyunjean Kim after a climb.
Outdoor Action is the University's oldest and largest pre-orientation program. This year's program has the highest enrollment in its 37-year history, with 796 students -- roughly 60 percent of the class of 2014 -- participating. From Sept. 5-10, the Outdoor Action groups are engaged in experiential learning activities at sites in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and New England. Among other excursions, the group is visiting the Princeton-Blairstown Center, a 275-acre camp in northwest New Jersey, hiking in the Delaware Water Gap and taking sustainable farming trips near Princeton.
Freshman Dillon Sharp, who joined his classmates for rock climbing, hiking and other activities along the Appalachian Trail in northwest New Jersey, said, "You get to know people really well when you are together for days, and trying to avoid rainstorms and rattlesnakes makes for a really close bond."
At the same time, an additional 145 freshmen are participating in Community Action, which sponsors volunteer service projects in Princeton, Trenton and Philadelphia. Students are working with community organizations focused on the arts, health, environmental awareness, housing, hunger relief and education.
In late August, a group of 20 students who were selected for the second year of Princeton's Bridge Year Program gathered on campus for an orientation program before heading to their destinations in Ghana, India, Peru and Serbia. The Bridge Year Program enables students to defer the start of their freshman year to spend a tuition-free enrichment period abroad focused on public service.
The rest of the class of 2014 will arrive on campus to begin an orientation program on Saturday, Sept. 11. Among the first activities for the freshmen is Opening Exercises at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12, in the University Chapel. Classes begin Thursday, Sept. 16.
Below are additional photos from the students' Outdoor Action and Bridge Year Program orientation activities.
Outdoor Action: Students forge bonds
A day of rock climbing is designed to help the incoming freshmen learn teamwork and build connections with their classmates.
Freshman Dillon Sharp scales a rock along the Appalachian Trail.
An Outdoor Action group relaxes on a foot bridge at the Princeton-Blairstown Center, where they spent the day completing a service project.
Outdoor Action leader Bonnie Rogers (front left), a sophomore, returns to the Princeton-Blairstown Center from a hike with her group members, freshmen Miranda Kalvaria (front right), Joseph Labatt (background, in blue) and Gideon Grossman (background, in green).
After a long day in the woods, campers rest lakeside at the Princeton-Blairstown Center.
Bridge Year Program: Students connect before traveling the world
During the Bridge Year Program orientation session on goal setting and teamwork, students take part in a group activity on collaboration and group trust. (Bridge Year photos courtesy of Stephanie Kraemer)
From left, Bridge Year Program students Brett Diehl, Divya Farias, Eleanor Roberts, and Rachel Parks focus on communication and overcoming obstacles through an exercise in which they must use wooden planks to move across the room without touching the floor.
Farias, who will spend the next year in Peru, participates in an orientation exercise called "Lifelines," in which students list events, people, books or other influences in their lives.
