La Vida College Expeditions

Intensive 12-day wilderness experience that promotes leadership, confidence and growth in community. La Vida Expeditions include outdoor rock climbing, ropes course, orienteering and a solo experience.

This 12-day expedition takes place in the Adirondack Mountains of New York which boasts six-million-acres filled with sparkling mountain streams, quiet lakes and challenging peaks. It’s the perfect environment for growth, adventure, self-discovery and growing deeper with God.

Category: Outdoor Education Requirement Programs

La Vida Expeditions fulfills the Common Core Requirement. These expeditions are appropriate for anyone who has passed a school physical or a physical conducted by your primary physician. Most students come with no prior camping, canoeing or backpacking experience. The supportive environment will encourage you to achieve more than you ever dreamed possible.

OUR VALUES

COMMUNITY

CHALLENGE

SOLITUDE

CREATION CARE

La Vida helps students prepare for a successful transition into college by building a sense of connectedness and community before they even begin. In the context of the outdoors, students learn how to lead and contribute by challenging themselves to break out of their comfort zone and by spending time alone in God’s Word. Faith is deepened and friendships are formed, setting a firm foundation of support for the college years.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

Team-Building
Training begins with group initiatives/team-building games and ropes course. Skills and activities include minimum-impact (Leave No Trace) camping skills, rock climbing, rappelling and backpacking or canoeing. Participants are trained with the skills that will allow them to become more self-sufficient later in the trip.

Group Travel
You will be camping outdoors every night of the trip and canoeing or backpacking most days of the expedition. This means that you have chances to see the lakes and rivers of the Adirondack State Park, develop your canoeing and backpacking skills, set up tents at different sites and become efficient travelers. Groups travel approximately 5 miles a day; however, each itinerary is different.

You will canoe or backpack with all your gear as you travel to different campsites. This gear includes your personal gear as well as group gear: food, cooking utensils, camping equipment etc. The packs can way between 40-50lbs initially but will get lighter throughout the trip as the food is a majority of the weight. Students should only carry 30% of their body weight, so the group will work together to distribute items as necessary.

Solo
The solo is a 2-day period towards the end of the trip where you will have the opportunity to practice the classic disciplines of solitude, simplicity and silence as well as fasting and prayer. It is a unique chance to step back from the normal distractions of life and evaluate what is important to you, set goals for the future and realize what you are thankful for in your life. Participants are placed approximately 150 feet from each other and given the space to read, journal and spend time in nature while under the close supervision of the La Vida Sherpas.

One element of solo that adds into the experience is fasting. Most people, but not all, do fast on their solo unless they are diabetic, hypoglycemic or have an eating disorder. Your leaders will prepare, support and encourage you to challenge yourself in this experience. They will be checking on you a few times during the day.

The solo experience is managed very closely by the leaders. All students are within a short walking distance of the leaders’ campsite. Students are checked on a minimum of twice a day and are given water and any medications that need to be distributed. Students who are a little more anxious about the experience are placed closer in proximity to the main campsite. Students wear a whistle at all times in case of emergency and are given a strobe light to turn on if they have to blow their whistle in the middle of the night.

Read more about solo.

Celebration
One or two surprises fill out the final days of your Adirondack Expedition. Time will be given to contemplate and celebrate the events of this powerful experience and how it applies to your life. Groups take advantage of La Vida's 75-acre property located just miles from Lake Placid.

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