From Sept. 27 through Nov. 22, Appalachian State University will be participating in the Outdoor Nation Challenge, a nationwide event designed to make college students more active.
The event, formed by the Outdoor Nation Initiative Program, is a competition between colleges where students earn points for various activities. Their points are then logged on the challenge’s website, oncampuschallenge.org.
The college or university with the most total points at the end of the competition is the winner. In addition, the person who has accrued the most points will be crowned “the most outdoorsy person” by Outdoor Nation Initiative Program, according to the website.
The parameters for what you can earn points for are very broad. Anything that can be considered an outdoor activity will be counted, such as hiking, bicycle riding or running. However, students can only complete five activities per day.
The type and duration of activities does not matter, said Rich Campbell, the associate director of University Recreation.
“One one-hour hike activity counts as much as a whole day of rock climbing,” Campbell said.
The other schools competing are California State University at Long Beach, Saint John’s University,
George Mason University, James Madison University, Michigan Technological University, Spelman College, the University of Central Florida, the University of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin Madison.
This is Appalachian’s first year participating in the event.
Story: Thomas Culkin, Intern News Reporter