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Trips for Orientation Adventure 2009
Orientation Adventure trips are four-day programs that will introduce students to other new students while being engaged in trips that embody Pitzer's core values. Students will have the opportunity to start their Pitzer experience with an exciting student-led program of their choice. This is a great opportunity to start being active in the Pitzer community while making lasting friendships and great memories.
All trips cost $295 with an additional supplemental fee for the Jennie Lakes and surf trip (please see below for the exact amount.) Trips will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis so register soon! Registration will begin Friday, May 29th and will close on July 3rd. All students will be informed which trip they are assigned to by July 10th.
1. Jennie Lakes Backpacking - CLOSED as of 6/10/2009
The Sequoia National Forest is one of the most beautiful forested regions in California, and with its majestic granite monoliths, glacier-torn canyons, mountain lakes, and lush meadows, it provides the ideal backdrop for a legendary hiking experience. Backpackers will have the opportunity to enjoy miles of scenery at several destinations and enjoy the view from 9,000 feet up in the High Sierras. This is our longest-running adventure and is the quintessential Pitzer Outdoor Adventures (POA) hike. Difficulty: All skill levels. Additional transportation fee: $50.
2. Golden Trout Backpacking
This is a high elevation backpacking trip in the Golden Trout Wilderness with somewhat strenuous hiking for four days and scenic camping in alpine meadows. This trip will give hikers exposure to some of the most incredible wilderness areas in the US, including vistas of the John Muir Wilderness, the Mount Whitney area, and a number of lakes above 10,000 feet. Difficulty: All skill levels
3. Quintessential SoCal Backpacking Trip
Experience the best of diverse Southern California landscapes with a hiking trip to beautiful Rancho Cuyamaca State Park outside of San Diego. In this trip, you’ll experience desert, forest, waterfalls and Lake Cuyamaca with daily trips throughout the park. Difficulty: All skill levels
4. Coastal Bike Cruise
Is it possible to explore the zenith of car culture without a car? This trip will tour the San Gabriel River Trail from the Inland Empire to the Pacific Ocean and then proceed south along the coast, ending in beautiful San Onofre State Beach. Please feel free to bring your own bike if you have one, otherwise equipment will be provided by our Green Bike Program. Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. While terrain covered will be primarily flat or downhill, students selecting this trip should be confident of their ability to cover extended distances on a bike (students should be able to do a 20+ mile ride).
5. A Cyclist’s Guide to LA
This will be a moderately strenuous trip centered around bicycling culture in the greater Los Angeles area, averaging 30-40 miles of riding per day at a medium pace. The trip will include a bike polo game, a tour of the bicycle district and the LA Bike Kitchen and possibly a visit to a Velodrome. After two epic days we will bike down the coast to meet with two other OA trips and relax on a beach. Difficulty: Moderate to Advanced. Participants should be in good biking condition and should complete several 20 mile bike rides before arriving on campus.
6. Southern California Surf - CLOSED as of 6/10/2009
Whether you are an experienced surfer or it’s something you have always wanted to try, this trip gives you the opportunity to enjoy the break at Southern California’s legendary San Onofre Beach. Meet your new classmates while surfing, relaxing, and playing on the beach. Plus, on the last night, we will be joined by the Bike Culture and Coastal Bike Cruise trips! Professional instruction, along with boards and wetsuits will be provided. Supplemental instruction fee: $100.
Difficulty: Up to you. You may spend this trip lying on the beach for three days straight, or you can spend hours in the water every day. All surf trip participants will need to take a 150 yard continuous swim test upon arrival at Pitzer.
7. LA Arts & Music
This orientation trip will infuse students with the arts and music of their new local communities. The trip will provide a chance to directly interact with alternative and grassroots methods of conveying a social message. Activities will include: exploring LA through the metro system, a mural tour of LA, live music, and art workshops ranging from wire working, ceramics, and drawing. All events will keep in mind learning to live within our means, and within our communities, whether that is Claremont, Los Angeles or any other community.
8. Gender Issues and Activism in LA
Why does gender matter? From beachside discussions of body image to examinations of gang culture, we will study varying gender norms, and how they are related to current social issues. The trip will observe a range of creative solutions, such as legislation, advocacy, rehabilitation, education, and the arts, that individuals utilize to create social change in their own communities. However, gender is a social construct that is much more present in our own lives than we often realize. This trip will also provide an opportunity for us to deconstruct our own identities, and understand how gender continues to actively shape us as individual men and women.
9. Sustainability in Action
Are you interested in learning about or becoming involved with local farms, and environmental justice and preservation issues? If so, the Pitzer Sustainability in Action trip is right for you! Jump into your new life by actually getting your hands dirty and experiencing your new home up close by meeting activists or the Pitzer chickens. This trip is full of adventures to local urban farms, outdoor excursions to the Claremont Wilderness Park, the Claremont Botanical Gardens, and even a backpacking trip to the beautiful Surprise Canyon (seven miles up, sleep under the stars, and seven miles back)! We eat delicious food that is locally grown and harvested, often from our very own garden. Whether working in a community garden, learning about local plants, going on a toxic tour of San Bernardino, learning about the community efforts of Food Not Lawns doing a creek clean-up, or exploring a waterfall, you will develop strong bonds to your classmates and a sense of place.
10. Urban Zapatismo: Community Restructuring
With Global Capital in its death throes, communities around the world have begun to seize control of their own destinies, learning to provide for their communal needs and protect the integrity of their way of life. This trip through Southern California will explore a variety of local responses to oppression and exploitation, from community gardens to housing cooperatives to radical community organizations.
11. Social Justice in Action
This trip will introduce students to the social justice issues and the cultural diversity in our backyard, as well as opportunities to be involved in activism in and around Pitzer. We will explore issues of food, arts, urban and environmental justice, and the creative solutions being developed to address these problems. We will also spend time enjoying the cultural highlights of Los Angeles (performances, museums, the outdoors, music and more). Our goal is to raise awareness about critical local issues and to show students how they can be involved in important, fun and change-making work. This OA will introduce students to the social responsibility ethos at the core of the Pitzer philosophy and expose them to critical cultural sites of LA.
12. Exploring the Real Los Angeles
Exploring the Real Los Angeles will actively engage students in issues dealing with diversity and social responsibility. We will explore areas of Los Angeles that the media do not publicize, such as Leimert Park, the Watts Towers, downtown missions and outreach facilities. We will see places like Little Ethiopia, Venice Beach and will listen to spoken word in the Los Angeles area. This is a trip that will open your mind, heart, and eyes, but it will also be tons of fun and an opportunity to connect with other Pitzer students in a meaningful way. This is an awesome, educational, thought-provoking, eye-opening, and fun OA of which to be part.
OA reserves the right to make assignments based on program needs.
Contact Us:
Pitzer College Orientation Adventure
OA@pitzer.edu
Office of Student Affairs
1050 N. Mills Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 607-7888
Fax: (909) 607-7136