Family Adventure in Science Outdoors July 5-8, 2017

Come share W&L and Lexington with your children and grandchildren in our special family-oriented campus program, built around amazing explorations and discoveries with the W&L faculty. Now in its ninth year, this program is specially designed for children ages 8-14 and their parents and grandparents.

From the famed Colonnade on W&L's campus and beyond, incredible adventures await you. Are you ready for an active treasure hunt in science and the outdoors? Grab your hiking shoes and notepad because the clues will be a challenge to find. Each one will lead you to the next exciting segment of our three-day adventure on and around campus. We'll hike in a towering forest of broadleaf trees searching for geocaches that will eventually lead you to a kayak. We'll then float down a river, researching rocks and river flow for hints to your next mission. Want to see how rivers erode bedrock in a cool science lab, then discover how it has actually happened on the river? Get ready for a picnic lunch on a rock that is more than a million years old! Another clue may be found on our high ropes course. It could lead you to a discovery of what makes a plant thrive in certain areas of our back campus, or it might help you investigate the critters that live in streams and rivers. Like bugs? We can find them and learn more about their habitat and why it is important to keep it healthy for them.

If you're curious and love adventure, this is the program for you. We'll learn some basic outdoor skills, such as knot-tying and how to read a map with a compass, while out on one of our local river trails. Build a model of a pack boat, paddle a kayak (or ride a raft) on either the James or the Maury as we learn about the history of the James River Canal System, and collect stories to tell your friends back home, along with lots of useful knowledge for your next adventure.

This program is led by James Dick, director of the W&L Outing Club. James will be joined by W&L professors Joel Kuehner, professor of physics and engineering, and David Harbor, professor of geology.