Hello! My name is Brian Holcomb and I, like Geoff before me, am writing to communicate a little bit of my experience living in the abode formerly known as The Outdoor House. To speak plainly, any Richmond student who is open to making new friends, taking a mind-expanding course, and going on great trips in the woods should join The Earth Lodge!
During my time in The House (the 2006-2007 school year) I reaped the benefits of living in a small, close-knit community. I only knew one of the students who would be living in The House that year, but I figured I would get along with the others because outdoorsy-types tend to be pretty cool people. Well, I was right! The types of folks who choose to live in Earth Lodge are open to meeting new people and going on adventures—they are cool, indeed.
The Earth Lodge curriculum—camping trips in the Blue Ridge, movie discussions, classes at the James River, cookouts—all of it is geared toward fostering community and respect for the natural world, and inspiring inquisitive minds and adventurous spirits. As an added bonus, my three best friends today are all fellow alumni of this program!
The Earth Lodge curriculum—camping trips in the Blue Ridge, movie discussions, classes at the James River, cookouts—all of it is geared toward fostering community and respect for the natural world, and inspiring inquisitive minds and adventurous spirits. As an added bonus, my three best friends today are all fellow alumni of this program!
In addition to building friendships in the dorm, you also get to take Professor Carleton’s English course with everyone in the Earth Lodge. This class was a lot of fun for me because we were encouraged to go beyond the typical class model and incorporate our experiences in the woods into our studies. This course got me excited in learning for the sake of learning, and Mr. Carleton’s open-ended journal assignments allowed me to explore material that interested me. It was also nice to have friends who would make sure I was awake in time for class!
My experience living in Earth Lodge helped me develop an identity for myself as one of the ‘outdoorsy’ Richmond students, and live with a group of people who had similar interests. It also helped spark my interest in experiential education. Today, I am interning with a semester-long, residential high school in North Carolina called The Outdoor Academy. Here, I’m living in a close-knit community not unlike the one I enjoyed in The Earth Lodge, and serving as a dorm parent for seven 16 and 17 year old boys. On the weekends, I co-lead wilderness trips such as backpacking, caving, paddling and rock climbing.
When I tell people about my job, they are really inquisitive as to how I ended up here. To read between the lines, many people are thinking ‘what sort of odd, meandering path did this guy take to end up leading backpacking trips at a semester school in the Appalachian Mountains’? Well, I tell them, it all started at The University of Richmond’s living-learning community, The Earth Lodge…
I hope you choose to live in The Earth Lodge, you won’t regret it!
-Brian
