WCC has a unique Freshmen Orientation Program.  While other schools may spend two or three days familiarizing students with their campus facilities, WCC spends almost a month over the course of the freshman year teaching students how to safely participate in the beauty of the wilderness around them. Ordered to a novice but challenging to those familiar with the back country, all our students need to succeed is basic physical fitness and a desire to learn.

To provide our freshmen with this amazing start to their college experience, WCC turned to the world-renowned National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), headquartered in Lander, Wyoming.  NOLS was founded in 1965 as a tiny outdoor school in a log cabin just outside of Lander. It was founded to teach people how to lead, and to teach people responsible, comfortable outdoor living.  Since its inception, NOLS has graduated over 85,000 persons from its prestigious programs.  NOLS conducts the fall wilderness adventure of the Freshman Orientation Program for WCC.

NOLS has some of the best instructors in the business, who know how to instruct the beginner and to refine the skills of the proficient.  Many of the instructors have been with NOLS for decades and consider their work not only a profession but also a lifestyle. These knowledgeable instructors have developed our customized wilderness program aimed at teaching WCC students how to thrive in the wilderness so that they may enjoy the environs to the fullest.   

The fall program is a 21-day, backpacking, wilderness expedition starting in August and ending just before the fall academic classes begin.  The program provides instruction to those with little or no outdoors experience, yet also engages even the most seasoned woodsman.  Students are assigned to groups of no more than 15 members (2 NOLS instructors, 1 priest chaplain, 1 other WCC representative, and the rest being freshmen), enhancing the sense of community.  The three-week stint in the wilderness gives students the satisfaction of climbing 11,000-ft. passes and summiting 13,000-ft. peaks, trekking about 100 miles, fly fishing some of the most beautiful lakes in the Rocky Mountains, and cooking their own meals.  They are exposed to learning many skills such as teamwork, treating all other members of the group with respect, doing a good share of the work, tolerating adversity and uncertainty, and developing leadership. These skills will stick with all students for the rest of their lives.

This orientation program is one of the most innovative college orientation programs in the country; students learn more about themselves in three weeks than many students learn in four years of ollege. Perhaps even more tantalizing is the notion that this is only the beginning.