April 2025

Grand Challenges students took to the hills, rivers, forests, and caves with Campus Recreation for a weekend of bonding and discovery. 

Campus Recreation’s ORGT program offers all Georgia Tech students a range of adventure trips, and over the first weekend in March 2025, Grand Challenges students went bikepacking, backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, sea kayaking, cascading, and caving. 

As a Living Learning Community, Grand Challenges offers first-year students ongoing opportunities to engage with their cohort outside of the classroom; the ORGT trips took them WAY beyond academia to the wilds of Georgia, and it was a rousing success in getting to know each other and themselves. 

When asked “What was the best part of your experience?”, student  responses included: 

• “Being able to step outside of my comfort zone while knowing that I was safe and supported. I was also able to spend time in nature, in a different way than what I normally do.”
• “Conversations during dinner and around the campfire, as well as the calmness of slow kayaking among wildlife.”
• “Growing closer to people in GC while getting out of my comfort zone!”
• “The instructors were super enthusiastic and fun!!!” 

The GCers who took part in these ORGT trips had unique experiences and took on new challenges and came back to campus with memories to last a lifetime.