Brian Jones, managing editor

As the middle of October approaches, the hurricane of midterms and classes swirls around before students can even take a step out of bed. The days feel sluggish, hinging on the next commitment. Before you know it, the day closes, not allowing room for any break. On campus, a team of hardworking Vikings say they have a remedy for this chaotic storm.

Recreation serves as a wide umbrella of activities at Berry. Located across campus, the department encompasses fitness, intramural sports, outdoor recreation and Berry Outdoor Leadership Development (BOLD). As fall is already underway, two active members of the Recreation department advocate that the perfect time to get involved is now.

Tyler White has served as recreation coordinator for over a year now, managing the fitness and intramural sports teams. White said that the purpose of Recreation boils down to one thing: removing the student from external stressors.

“Recreation is really an opportunity for students to take their mind off their academics,” White said. “It’s an opportunity to have a broad [range] of things that they can do.”

This broad scope covers any outdoor itch a student might want to scratch. White said the department offers students a variety of activities for individual students and student groups alike. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiking, canoeing, cycling classes and many more.

“On top of what I manage, we also have outdoor recreation which includes camping and canoeing, which we use the Etowah River for,” White said. “We also have the BOLD program, which is [located] over by the outpost in the Richards Gym. A lot of groups go out there, whether it’s residence halls or other groups outside of Berry, and it’s a good community for other people as well. These are opportunities for people to get their mind off anything academic, to just enjoy- whether it be outside or being active.”

BOLD serves as Berry’s outdoor leadership building program, hosting a number of events. In specific, the program holds events for high and low elevation ropes courses along with ground activities.

Asa Rankin is the Student Director for BOLD, leading and organizing team bonding and varying elements of ropes courses. Rankin said that BOLD is much more than ropes courses and high-element events.

“I think what the students most know us for on campus is our ropes course that we have, but we also are a much bigger organization,” Rankin said. “At BOLD, we lead ground activities to cultivate leadership skills most prominently, like trust, communication, teamwork and team bonding; everything that falls under that umbrella.”

Rankin said that these ground activities are broken into different sections to harness universal values, including experimental learning.

“We’ve got our icebreakers, which is like a get-to-know-you, which we try and mix up a little bit with some of the more generically known ones,” Rankin said. “And then we move into initiatives, which are a little bit more getting to nitty gritty.”

Rankin said most of BOLD’s core experience lies in applying lessons learned through events.

“Typically, we debrief [initiatives] with some questions, asking, ‘Hey, what were the things you use in this activity, and then how can you apply them to other areas?’” Rankin said. “This has them take applicable skills they see themselves use and then be able to use them in other aspects of life: in their team or the group they’re part of. That is very important.”

Both Rankin and White were once in the position of lacking direction before landing jobs in Recreation. They found that the program brought them closer to a sense of belonging. They found that finding a sense of belonging first starts in Recreation.

For Rankin, her path to belonging started uneasy, saying the was initially afraid of what BOLD had to offer.

“I was told we have one of our things we hooked into the course, called quads, and I was told to climb above where my quads were clipped in,” Rankin said. “I was like, ‘you want me to do what now?’ So, I just remember being very unsure about this job. I wasn’t sure if I was going to come back to Berry after that first semester, that’s how rough it was.”

As Rankin delved deeper into the values she picked up from these experiences, the fear she carried turned into a job she would love.

“Through the other aspects of the job, like the ground games and getting integrated into the team, we’ve got to have good trust, and good communication skills,” Rankin said. “I was able to cultivate some of those things in the first semester. Through working at BOLD, I decided to stay not only at Berry, but stayed the first half of my first summer here, as well. I went from not wanting to be here to wanting to stay and work at BOLD as much as I could.”

White said how he came into the position of Recreation Coordinator. He shared Rankin’s same love for Berry’s community, but his arrival at Berry was a bit more unexpected.

“I graduated from the University of West Georgia (UWG). My background was just in college athletics. As an undergraduate, a lot of it was communicating with coaches, setting up some breakdowns of athletic events, things like that. Recreation wasn’t really on my radar.”

White harked back to what piqued his interest as a kid, saying that this interest has always been in his back pocket.

“As a kid growing up, I loved the outdoors,” White said. “I love playing pickup sports, whether it be football or basketball and things like that.”

White said after his time at UWG, his window into Berry came in the shape of his brother.

“He graduated from Berry this past fall, and was on the intramural sports staff,” White said. “He casually mentioned one day we were all home, ‘Yeah, we’re kind of just working by ourselves. We don’t really have a boss right now.’”

White’s mind started to turn, taking what he already knew about his brother’s job and his growing interest in sports and the outdoors.

“I already knew what he did, the kind of things that he was involved with recreation,” White said. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute, y’all don’t have a boss right now?’ So, then I just went to the Cage [Center], saw the position and applied. It’s been awesome so far, and I’ve really enjoyed being here.”

White has observed that Recreation allows students to improve and maintain their mental health, serving as a reminder as to why the program is so vital.

“It’s good just to be active, White said. “It’s also good for your mental health to keep your mind off a lot of things, because I know there’s a lot of studying, a lot of things involved in academics. It’s important to not only be active but also to have people that you can connect with. Recreation has that opportunity all the time.”

As the midterm storm starts to roll in, many first-year students especially may feel stuck or lost on campus. Rankin said that finding a group or activity on campus can completely shift your outlook.

“Even if it’s not your LifeWorks job, find a group of people,” Rankin said. “Find some people who you really connect with, even if it is on a surface level and try to make deeper relationships with them.”

For any skeptics that think this remedy isn’t realistic or right for them, Rankin said she is living proof that Recreation shaped her college experience.

“For me, I didn’t have that connection,” Rankin said. “I literally knew no one in Georgia when I came here because I’m from Mississippi. Through interacting with my coworkers, I found friends and community. It then blossomed and grew from there to the rest of the areas that I’m in.”

White said the jump to being involved in Recreation lies in the philosophy of trying.

“Give it a chance,” White said. “There’s a lot of areas in Recreation, plenty of opportunities where you don’t have to be committed. There’ll be times where we just have a tournament for a day or have a day camping trip.”

Rankin said categories like BOLD serve as a catapult into getting involved and having a clearer, open mind.

“Every student on campus should interact with BOLD at some point before they graduate,” Rankin said. “Even if it’s just coming and interacting with us on the ground, or in the air, I think there’s a lot of growth to be had. Relieve some of that tension, energy and stress. I would love to have every student interact with BOLD, and that they wouldn’t forget it.”

In all, every realm of Recreation gives students a break from academia while providing valuable lessons that can be carried beyond their time at Berry.

“[Recreation] is a big opportunity to meet new people into building that engagement,” White said. “I would just say, just take that chance, to see if it’s something that interests you.”