The Hike: Beyond Winning
By Madisson Heinl
I have been on the Hike three times. No, I did not have to repeat freshman year. I am a Student Mentor.
The Hike took place Aug. 28, 12-6:30 p.m. I had the opportunity to get lost following the freshmen all over campus in a sea of blue T-shirts. The Hike included a scavenger hunt, time for teams to build boats out of sheets of cardboard androlls of duct tape, and a Break-out Group chant competition. Beginning with the scavenger hunt, each Break-out group was given a clue to its first destination. At each location, the groups found a brief history lesson and another clue.
My group scrambled to begin. Our first clue was difficult to decipher and, after nearly 20 minutes of debating, we finally ran to the first location. Because we were behind the other groups, our team sprinted to every destination despite the heat and choking humidity. Yet, each student refused to give up. Joe Becraft yelled encouragements to tired group members; Caitlin Hunter sacrificed her time with the group to take a hurt classmate to the nurse; Melanie Woodruff was quiet, but deciphered many of the clues and acted as our secret weapon; and Daniel Guyton offered jokes when everyone was too exhausted to laugh. Each student contributed his or her strength although failure seemed inevitable.
Perhaps the most difficult part of the Hike as a Student Mentor is not being permitted to assist in the building of cardboard boats. After finishing the scavenger hunt, we descended upon cardboard and duct tape. I had to watch my team be confused, frustrated, and upset as they rushed to make a seaworthy boat. I watched them use their strengths in strategy, construction, and encouragement and soon realized that they did not need my assistance. They only needed my reassurance.
We did not win any portion of the Hike, but the Hike is not about being the winning Break-out group. Bringing in two soggy boats and huddling in a group of sweaty, exhausted freshmen is reward enough. If you are an upperclassman, you probably scoff at this sentiment because your memory of the Hike was not one of 
happiness. After three years of participating in the event, no Student Mentor was as thirsty as I to win some portion of the Hike. However, what I saw at the Hike was a team of freshmen with every reason to complain like the upperclassmen have before them (and continue to do), every reason to give up, and every
reason not to work as a team. Yet my Break-out group complained little, persevered, and, as stated by freshman Rosalyn Plank, continued “working together as a team.”
The Hike is an event planned by a Student Affairs team that sincerely cares about instilling unity in the midst of newness and diversity. Freshman Morgan Hutcheson attested to this fact and said, “It wasn’t hard for everyone to be included.” The Hike is what a freshman makes of it. The freshmen of 2013 made it fun, and I am blessed to have taken my final Hike with them.
