On a recent early September afternoon, a spirited group of a dozen 乐播传媒 students rambled along the Androscoggin Riverwalk in downtown Auburn, listening to music turned low on a hand-held bluetooth speaker carried by Alexis Gonzalez 鈥�26 of Hanford, Calif.
The group had just come from nearby Crescent Beach in Auburn, where they threw a Frisbee, waded in Taylor Pond, and sang karaoke songs. Beside the edge of the rushing Androscoggin, they stopped for photos, while some danced.
Just one day earlier, the nine first-year 乐播传媒 students in the group were strangers. Now, as they enjoyed one of roughly 50 orientation trips offered to the entire Class of 2027, the strangers had accomplished what their trip leaders were working toward: creating their own sense of 乐播传媒 community.
鈥淭hey were able to really connect with each other,鈥� said Gonzalez, a co-leader of the Lakes Chillin鈥� trip with J.J. Mariscal 鈥�26 of Mission, Texas. 鈥淭hey learned each other鈥檚 names very fast. They鈥檙e comfortable with each other.鈥�
And the karaoke? 鈥淭hey鈥檙e really good singers, actually. The energy was just really cool.鈥�
Outdoor orientation trips for first-year students are not unique to 乐播传媒, nor are they new. But in recent years, more has been done to hone and develop 乐播传媒鈥� long-running program, known as AESOP (Annual Entering Student Orientation Program).
In the late 1800s, for example, first-year students were welcomed to 乐播传媒 with a bird walk and picnics. Then, through the mid-1900s, the Stanton Ride tradition took hold with a hike, picnic, and 乐播传媒 stories told by beloved dean, Harry Rowe.
In the late 1980s, AESOP emerged as a multi-day, outdoor experience run by the student Outing Club. Similar to other colleges鈥� programs, AESOP carried a strong outdoor-education component, with physical challenges in nature being a key part of the program鈥檚 focus.
By the late 2010s, as 乐播传媒 began to examine the totality of its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, hard questions were asked about a predominantly white program at a predominantly white college engaged in a historically white activity, that being outdoor recreation, mostly in the backcountry.
In response, student leaders and 乐播传媒 staff teamed up to make mission-driven changes, taking a deep dive into data from student surveys and national best practices to help them more effectively design an array of trips that adhere more closely to the AESOP goal: An inclusive and welcoming experience that gives first-year 乐播传媒 students a sense of their place on campus, in Lewiston, and in Maine, and to help them feel an integral part of the 乐播传媒 community.
鈥淭here is a lot of experiential education research we鈥檝e looked at,鈥� said Blake Reilly, associate dean of students and director of operations and administration. A successful orientation trip is 鈥渘ot necessarily about an outdoor experience, it鈥檚 about having a shared experience and working together toward something.鈥�
To that end, AESOP can鈥檛 be one size fits all. Students should be able to choose whatever level of challenge they want, Reilly said, since many already have had their fair share of challenges just getting to 乐播传媒.
鈥淎ESOP should be challenge by choice,鈥� said Reilly. 鈥淲hen students come to campus they are coming from all over the country and world, and some have never been to Maine before. If you’re dropped onto the 乐播传媒 campus for the first time, you are already facing a challenging situation.鈥�
AESOP offerings are more creative and varied than ever. While a range of trips still afford traditional outdoor excursions to the backcountry of Maine and New Hampshire (like backpacking in Grafton Notch or canoeing on Moosehead Lake), today about a third of the roughly 50 AESOP trips focus on some sort of city or campus experience.
One local trip gave students a chance to produce a film. Another explored downtown Lewiston landmarks. Another taught students woodworking skills in the theater department鈥檚 scene shop, while Wool and Waves traveled to Popham Beach for surfside fun and knitting (no experience required).
Another major change is offering multiple versions of some trips for affinity groups: women, women of color, international students, and students who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color).
For example, the Lakes Chillin鈥� trip led by Gonzalez and Mariscal was a BIPOC student affinity trip. The two leaders didn鈥檛 know they would be leading an affinity group until they were assigned one. When that happened, both said they wondered whether offering affinity groups might be limiting by preventing the first-year students from meeting students from more diverse backgrounds. But as they watched their group bond quickly, they saw the merit in this new option.
鈥淲e kind of realized that the whole AESOP statement is about making sure students are feeling included in everything; making sure they have a safe and comfortable environment,鈥� Mariscal said. 鈥淚ntroducing them to 乐播传媒 through a BIPOC group, they will have a strong connection with the group. And later on if they need someone to talk to, they鈥檒l always have someone they met in AESOP who they feel comfortable talking to.鈥�
Together, Gonzalez and Mariscal helped forge that strong connection. They planned a surprise birthday cake for one of the new students, and invited the first-years to contribute songs to a Spotify playlist. Within a day the playlist held 24 hours worth of music.
About 50 miles to the northwest, AESOP trip leader Verina Chatata 鈥�26 was climbing a steep, rocky trail to the summit of 3,200-foot Mount Blue with deep breaths and a smile that stretched all the way back to last year, when Chatata climbed the same peak for the first time as a first-year at 乐播传媒 with nine other women of color on an affinity trip.
The experience was positive and powerful because it leveled the field, Chatatas said, making it more inclusive and less intimidating.
鈥淚 absolutely loved it. I liked hiking with the affinity group because it made the environment a lot more comfortable for me, even though I didn鈥檛 have an incredible amount of hiking experience,鈥� said Chatata who is from Lilongwe, Malawi, in southeast Africa, and grew up camping, but not hiking. 鈥淲e shared a certain level of understanding across the different conversations we were having, which thus contributed to the comfort level.鈥�
Catie Luedee works closely with AESOP student leaders as the college’s coordinator of outdoor education and programs. She also advises the Outing Club. The ability to be comfortable in the outdoors, she admits, was never a question for her growing up.
鈥淭he more I work in outdoor education, the more I think am so privileged: upper-middle class, white girl from small-town Maine. I鈥檝e always felt safe outside 鈥� my dad is a boat captain,鈥� said Luedee, who is from the coastal town of Phippsburg, an hour from campus.
鈥淩emembering that for a large population of people, the outdoors is not a place they feel safe is very important 鈥� and it鈥檚 very important for AESOP.鈥�
The changes to the program seem to be working. By 2019, post-AESOP student surveys showed that 86 percent of respondents said the experience was 鈥渆njoyable鈥� or 鈥渟omewhat enjoyable.鈥� In 2021, after COVID canceled the 2020 trips, AESOP scored a 96-percent approval rating. Last year, it hit 99 percent. 鈥淚 was pretty happy with that,鈥� Reilly said, 鈥渂ut the goal is 100 percent.鈥�
Another improvement added this year in the name of inclusion is a program to educate trip leaders about the history of the Indigenous lands they and their first-year students visited.
During one of their many training sessions, AESOP trip leaders on Aug. 28 heard from Associate Professor of History Joe Hall, whose scholarly interests focus on Native American interactions with Europeans during the colonial period and who teaches a Short Term course on the history of the Wabanaki, the collective term for the Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes in Maine.
During his talk to the more than 100 AESOP leaders, he played a video made by three students from his Short Term course that raised hard questions about what the students knew about Wabanaki history. Then Hall asked the trip leaders to ask themselves those same questions.
鈥淥ne of the things that I want to have us think about is the way that outdoor experiences is not just going for a hike, which has all sorts of histories of really intense privilege rooted in that,鈥� Hall explained.
鈥淏ut those so-called classic experiences are rooted in a certain tradition of relatively rich white people enjoying the spaces that their ancestors had conquered from other people. And there are politics about who feels welcome where and what those spaces mean.鈥�
For Mitchel Soederberg 鈥�25 of Bedford, N.H. who knew little about Indigenous lands in Maine, Hall鈥檚 discussion 鈥減lanted a seed.鈥�
“It just shocks me how little I know about鈥� the history of the people who lived in this space,” said Soederberg, who helped lead the backpacking AESOP trip in the Bigelow Range. 鈥淚 love hiking and backpacking to these places. I want to learn about the people who (lived) in these places.鈥�
Four days later 鈥� following the traditional, raucous welcome to first-year students at the Keigwin Amphitheater 鈥� Soederberg and his fellow trip leaders gathered their first-year charges and fanned out across Maine and into New Hampshire to lead 57 trips.
With the help of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, one AESOP trip offered new students a chance to engage with the Lewiston community to get a sense of the rich experiences that await them if they venture beyond campus.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the hope for these local community engagement trips,鈥� said Darby Ray, the center鈥檚 director. 鈥淭hat they welcome students into the local community, expose them to the work of several local organizations, and give them an opportunity to get involved in that work.鈥�
One of the AESOP community engagement trips this year went to the Montello Heights assisted living community, where the students played games with the residents, including one that revealed the cost of everyday things 70 to 80 years ago.
Trip leader Gail Curtis 鈥�26 of Rockport, Maine, called it moving and unexpected.
鈥淲hat we learned is that service is not one-sided. We鈥檙e also gaining something from the experience,鈥� Curtis said. 鈥淭hat really came to fruition right before our eyes when we went to Montello Heights because they gave us stories and advice from their lives.
鈥淭hey said other 乐播传媒 students have gone there and written their life stories. As an English major, that really resonated with me. That would be such an honor to write someone鈥檚 life story to pass on to their children. We learned so much there. I just feel really lucky.鈥�
