Oregon or bust: Unique program connects Maroon with wild heart of Pacific Northwest
April 11, 2024
Category: Student Life
Kendall Donna ’26 found herself craving quiet. Growing up in the constantly connected, nonstop scrolling digital age, she wondered what it'd be like to truly unplug and deepen her connection to the natural world that she researches as an environmental studies major.
That’s when she learned about the Oregon Extension partnership, a study away program that puts students in the heart of the Cascade Mountains for a semester devoted to exploring, learning and creating without the disruption of cell phone alerts and social media notifications.
“I immediately thought, wow, I would love to do that,” Donna said. “I wanted to do something completely new, go somewhere I had never been, and bring back everything I could learn from it.”
The Oregon Extension is a unique program offered every fall with the mission of creating time and space for students to debate big ideas, live closer to the land, and wrestle with fundamental questions about who they are and what type of life they want to build.
The 16-week program challenges students with intensive courses that are tackled one at a time. Each focuses on a weighty question: How has society’s relationship with nature changed over time? How do we build community? How do we pursue sustainability? How do we lead ethical, full lives?
The work, which includes research projects and cultural trips, takes place at the Oregon Extension’s mountain retreat inside the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a federally protected site that has been described as an ecological wonderland.
“It’s a special, peaceful place. You feel very close to and inside of nature,” Donna said. “The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is this biologically diverse hotspot where all these different plants and animals converge in one place. The man who fought to preserve it and get federal recognition actually still lives nearby. You can meet him and talk to him.”
Roanoke College has expanded its partnership with the Oregon Extension to make it easier for students to enroll. The study away experience is offered every fall and is open to all majors. More details are available from the Office of Global Engagement Opportunities.
Cell phones and other media are tucked away on weekdays at the program’s grounds. Students instead devote their time to discussions and projects both inside and outside the classroom.
Donna once mentioned to a professor that she loved films. He encouraged her to try making one. Working with friends, she scripted and shot a short, comedic thriller — and discovered a new passion.
“Now I want to do a minor in screen studies,” she said. “I got to tap into something new for me that I could add to my studies back at Roanoke, which is very cool. You’re really able to explore during your time in Oregon. I got to discover things that I truly think helped me develop my person more.”
Roanoke College has sent students to the Oregon Extension for years through one of the study away program’s affiliate institutions, Eastern Mennonite University. Now, it’s expanding on that and becoming an affiliate in its own right.
The closer partnership will make it easier for students to join the program with no need for transfer paperwork or other administrative entanglements. The Oregon Extension is open to students of all majors. More details are available from Roanoke’s Office of Global Engagement Opportunities.
Donna, who did her study away in fall 2023, said she was happy to see Roanoke strengthening its relationship with the Oregon program.
“I’m so glad that future students will have this opportunity,” she said. “I was able to make really good friends, explore a new part of the country and think about things that broadened my worldview.”
Go West
Trips taken by students in the Oregon Extension program include a multi-day backpacking trip into the forest. The wilderness there, noted for its Ponderosa pines, is unlike the East Coast forests and mountains that Kendall Donna '26 grew up in. "It's a very different feel," she said. "It's special to the world west of the Rockies."
The trek is challenging, Donna said, but also unforgettable. You spend your days and nights surrounded by nature with none of the modern-day barriers between you and the outside world.
Donna's cohort also did a trip to the Oregon coast. "It was so beautiful. That was probably my favorite one," she said.
Oregon's coastline is dotted by spectacular rock formations, known as sea stacks, that are part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge and serve as habitats for a diverse array of animals.
The third excursion for Donna’s cohort was to San Francisco, where they saw a different side of what it means to build community and connection in the world. That included a visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where Donna is pictured above.