BRANDON HOOK | staff writer
Friday, March 13, approximately 30 APU students packed themselves into the van and set off for the High Sierra Preview and everything it had to offer.
The three-day adventure included such activities as the Rez Life 5K, a bonfire on Star Rock—a hill toward the back of campus—kayaking, archery, a high ropes course and a trip to the waterfall about five minutes from campus.
“Preview weekends are pretty essential to everything we do, in that generally they yield more than an 80 percent return for us,” Graduate Assistant Katie Burns said. “Most students that come up here for preview weekend end up coming for a semester, because we honestly believe that this is one of APU’s best kept secrets, and once we get people up here it’s hard for them to say no.”
Planning for the weekend is done entirely by current High Sierra students, who are in charge of integrating themselves with the preview students to ensure a great weekend for both.
“Each semester we choose two students to serve as preview ambassadors, and they do most of the planning and set up the schedule,” Burns said. “They do everything from choosing meals to activities. This year it was Adam Nuñez and Lauren Morano. They did a great job. They integrate where we were going to hold all of this stuff and bring the current High Sierra kids into it.”
There are a couple mandatory activities, such as the question and answer with the professors and the campus tour.
It’s a chance for the APU community to see how unique and special this community is.
Freshman biochemistry major Grant Boles found the weekend fun and informative.
“I really enjoyed the weekend. I think everyone there did a good job of selling the mountain life. It is quite a temptation now for sure. My favorite part was just the people and the time I spent with individuals, I felt that the weekend was very informative, and very persuasive indeed,” Boles said.
Other students enjoyed the weekend, but found that academic impossibility placed a vice on a potential semester in the Sierras.
Freshman biochemistry major Jesse DeWitt finds herself in this difficult situation.
“I really loved High Sierra and I wish I could go but I don’t think that’s possible with my major,” DeWitt said. “My only problem with the program was that there are no science classes. I would think that science would be the easiest to integrate into a nature setting such as the Sierra Mountains.”
DeWitt did enjoy the weekend, even if it may be her only taste of the mountain life with APU.
“I loved the proximity of the lake and the waterfall,” DeWitt said. “It was cool seeing deer on the way to the waterfall and I liked the swings and archery. The stars were amazing. The food was fantastic. The faculty seemed entertaining and informative. The students were amiable. Overall, it was a fantastic weekend.”
Current High Sierra students got in on the action as well. Freshman biblical studies major Mark Visser was one such student.
“Preview weekend was tons of fun,” Visser said. “It was cool to see people from main campus and it was really exciting having a bunch of people here. It was a nice break from the academic world, and it felt more like a camp for a few days.”
Graduate assistant Katie Burns believes the annual event is directly tied to the program’s success.
