Date: 8/3/98

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARS EMBARK ON `WILDNESS AND WILDERNESS' TRIP

CEDAR FALLS– University of Northern Iowa presidential scholars, accustomed to passing academic exams with ease, are facing a test of another kind. The students are exploring the wilderness July 25-August 16 by hiking through rain forests and along coastal cliffs in Washington, 15 miles up a mountain in Oregon, to the highest point in Utah and into a basin surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks in the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

The UNI presidential scholars' Wildness and Wilderness seminar involves more than living without modern conveniences for nearly three weeks. They have also been challenged to research and study national environmental issues, test their physical strength and endurance, and practice essential survival skills.

__(Name)__ of __(Address/Hometown)__, is among the seven women and three men who are on the UNI Wildness and Wilderness presidential scholars' seminar trip.

Rick Stinchfield, seminar instructor and coordinator of outreach activities for the Center for Energy and Environmental Education (CEEE) at UNI, expects the well-prepared students to be extremely proud of what they've accomplished on the trip.

“This will be a fundamental life-changing experience for them,” Stinchfield said. “I would expect them to have a wonderful sense of achievement and self-esteem upon completion of the seminar.”

The students will experience first hand the factors—such as geology, biology and sociology—that impact wilderness, and are expected to answer the question, “Why does it matter?” “I hope they develop a much more emotional attachment to the natural world,” Stinchfield said. “It's easy to intellectualize it, but another to actually experience it.”

The seminar included a semester-long course where the students started journals, read High Country News and completed a research paper comparing and contrasting wilderness and wildness—focusing on the flora, fauna and history of the places they selected to visit. They discussed public land management issues, wilderness management, forest practices, mining, grazing and development pressures. They also selected resource people to meet with while on the trip.

The scholars also planned the trip details and discussed health and safety issues—from the physical demands (each student was required to pass a fitness prerequisite—the ability to walk five miles in 50 minutes) and endurance (including the rigors of carrying a 50-pound backpack through rugged terrain) and the changes in altitude, to weather extremes (including lightning and snow), wildlife encounters and the bacteria that can be present in some water sources. Each scholar is expected to act as an “expert” for some aspect of the trip and teach the remainder of the group on that topic.

The trip itinerary includes backpacking down the coast of Washington in Olympic National Park (July 28-30); a day in Seattle (July 31); three days of backpacking in the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon where they plan to test their stamina (Aug. 2-4) with a 15-mile one-day climb to Eagle Cap (just under 10,000 feet); a three-day pack into the Uinta Mountains in Utah, where they plan to climb to the state's highest point (13,665 feet)—King's Peak (Aug. 6-8); stops in Aspen and Leadville, Colo., preceding the most ambitious “pack and climb”—five days of point-to-point packing into the Collegiate Peaks (Harvard, Columbia, Yale and Princeton) of Colorado where they plan to climb as many as four “14'ers” (14,000- foot peaks) that surround the basin where they will camp just below timberline (Aug. 11-15); and arriving at UNI in Cedar Falls (Aug. 16).

Stinchfield, and his wife, Lynne, who has accompanied him on previous wilderness trips, expect the students to find “summiting the 14'ers as a high point in their life”. “There are no houses, no roads. We'll be camped by seagulls, mountain streams and deer,” said Stinchfield. “This is another example of experiential learning at UNI, where we are able to offer this wonderful opportunity to students.”

Presidential scholars have a choice of three seminars each semester. The Wildness and Wilderness seminar, offered for the first time this year, was limited to 10 students. In recent years, the Colorado Capstone class, open to all UNI students, has focused on similar objectives in Colorado.

Presidential scholars receive four-year, full-ride scholarships funded through the Office of the President at UNI. The students must maintain the academic excellence for which the awards have been granted. This select group takes part in scholars-only seminars, are eligible for special travel/study opportunities and receive extensive individual advising.

HOMETOWN NAME/ADDRESS

ALTA VISTA Rebecca Kobliska, 400 S. White Ave.

CEDAR RAPIDS Kristen Sibold, 7014 Surrey Drive NE

DENISON Diana Franck, 1314 4th Ave. N.; Amy Lohman, 1404 4th Ave. N.

ELGIN Meg Butikofer, 609 Mill St.

IOWA FALLS Raymond Johnson, 330 Jason Ave.

MUSCATINE Elaine Eshbaugh, 2611 Steeple Lane; Ben Nietzel, 1114 Iowa Ave.

WEST DES MOINES Karen Pitcher, 606 34th Place

OUT-OF-STATE