Building A New Wave Of Outdoor Leaders For The Next Generation

In 2013, Ron Griswell took a break from college at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&TSU) to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.

“I moved to Minneapolis and got into outdoor guiding and education,’” said Griswell, who took a job working with the nonprofit Wilderness Inquiry. “I felt as though I needed to do that before I continued with school.”

In 2015, Griswell returned to NCA&TSU, a historically Black university, with a desire to continue growing his passion for the outdoors. 

“I realized quickly that my school didn’t have the opportunities for outdoor recreation experiences that I was looking for. I actually thought about transferring to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, because they have a robust outdoor program and giant gear library,” said Griswell, now 29 years old and a contributor here at SNEWS. “That’s when it clicked: These outdoor activities won’t come to my school unless I do something about it.”

Programs designed to develop students’ outdoor skills through experiential education do exist across the country, but they're mostly found at predominantly white schools. In the country's 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), these programs are virtually nonexistent.

“There are very few HBCUs that have any sort of outdoor programming, or even an outdoor club,” said Griswell. 

Recognizing that disparity and hoping to change it, Griswell set his sights on creating a solution.

Check out the full article from SNEWS here.