Watersports, biking, running, camping, and hiking are the usual activities that ASWWU Outdoors, a division of the Associated Students of Walla Walla University, plans for spring quarter. Due to classes shifting to online instruction, these activities have transitioned from being planned events for WWU students to now being categories on the ASWWU Outdoors blog.
“I knew that if I planned ahead we could jump into spring quarter with a ton of momentum,” said Grant Hartman, senior mechanical engineering major and ASWWU Outdoors director. He met with the ASWWU Outdoors team as a whole and one-on-one to get an idea of the content they wanted to produce. “Together, we brainstormed what would be the best use of our time so that we could continue to serve the student body by sharing our love for the outdoors,” he said.
After meeting with his team, Hartman chose a variety of mediums in order to reach a large number of WWU students, faculty, and staff. “We were looking for somewhat of a hub for creativity and stories that no other media platform was currently offering. It just seemed like the next logical step was to tell stories and educational excerpts in a blog-style format to get those creative juices flowing,” Hartman said.
The ASWWU Outdoors blog, I’d Rather Be Outside, is run by Wils Haffner, junior business administration major and ASWWU Outdoors trip leader. The blog features personal stories told by the ASWWU Outdoors staff and technical tips and tricks for camping, hiking, watersports, snow sports, biking, running, and the environment.
Each category features an ASWWU Outdoors leader that posts new content every other week in their section. Usually the staff write the posts as personal narratives or provide tips and tricks related to their sections, however ASWWU Outdoors would be glad to feature other student writers as well. Those who are interested in writing a piece for the blog can contact wils.haffner@wallawalla.edu for more information.
In addition to the blog, the ASWWU Outdoors podcast, Trail Tales, features different stories from students, faculty, and staff that are not featured on the blog.
Access the ASWWU Outdoors blog, podcast, and more on the ASWWU Outdoors website.
Posted May 27, 2020.
