Adventure is out there and the newly-founded Adventure Club is going after it. Their mission is to get outdoors and get students to step outside of their comfort zones. The most recent Adventure Club event, indoor rock climbing at Boulder Dash, was attended by 40 California Lutheran University students.

The club president, freshman Andrew Queen and club advisor, Assistant Director for Residence Life Nathan Fall, founded the club at the beginning of the 2014 spring semester.

“I chaperoned a white water rafting trip last September through our outdoor rec program and I met Andy while on that trip. I was talking to him about his interests and background and I started telling him about how many years ago, we had a club similar to this that I helped advise and how great it would be for him to bring it back,” Fall said.

Fall might have helped plant the idea for the club, but emphasized that Queen is the one who worked hard to pursue it.

“It is really impressive that from early October to February, he took the idea, put it together, got the necessary paperwork, went to student government and got approval and now it is an official club. He even got funding within the same year, which is not usual,” Fall said.

The club was approved by senate on January 27 and was allocated $1,224  on March 31.

Queen explained that a lot of the money went toward their last event at Boulder Dash. Students who attended the event paid $3 to rock climb when it usually costs $16.

“The money was also for snacks, a first aid kit and then we are planning a beach day where we are going to rent paddle boards, kayaks and surfboards,” Queen said.

Queen said that the club usually hosts a bigger event, like the rock climbing, every two weeks and then they will do other things like hiking and geocaching in between events.

According to Queen, geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game where your phone GPS navigates you to a certain location to find a hidden treasure.

“I had never been rock climbing before and I am actually really afraid of heights but I still tried it and it was scary but really fun,” said freshman Nicole Deleon, the club’s treasurer. “I really like it. It is definitely getting me to try things I never thought I would try like the rock climbing, we do a lot of fun things and a lot of people have been getting involved.”

Fall said that the club will strive to plan events on the weekends when many students complain that CLU becomes a ghost town.

“Many of the events will happen on the weekends, so when students say there is never anything going on, you can come back and say, ‘well did you know the adventure club is doing this, or hosting this event?’” Fall said.

“For our next event, we are actually going to do a campout on the 25th, I think, in Kingsmen Park, and we are going to slack line, maybe make smores and some other different things,” Queen said.

To find out more about the Adventure Club, look for the group on Facebook or email Queen at [email protected].

Lauren Ray
Staff Writer
Published April 23, 2014