Saturday November 21, 2009  

August 15, 2009

Dear Outdoor Action Parent,

We are really excited that your son or daughter has signed up for the Outdoor Action Frosh Trip. As Princeton’s oldest preorientation program they will be joining more than 14,150 students who have started Princeton by making new college friends on OA. This year we have over 750 members (56 percent) of the incoming class participating which is a new record for us. This letter is to provide you with some last minute information that parents often call us about.

ARRIVAL: When the students arrive on Saturday, September 5, each student should first go to Baker Rink to sign their housing contract and pick up their room key. Staff from the Undergraduate Housing Office will be at Baker Rink from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday. Outdoor Action will have an OA check-in table at Baker Rink with information about specific trip assignments (see Trip Areas section below) and details regarding the Outdoor Action check-in at Dillon Gym. As of now, all dorms are expected to be ready for move-in on September 5, so room keys can be picked up from Housing upon arrival. If anything changes, the updated information about dorms unavailable for move-in due to summer construction will be posted on the OA website (www.princeton.edu/~oa/ft/).

LATE ARRIVAL: If your son or daughter will be arriving after 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, please notify the OA office (609-258-6230) by Wednesday, August 26, so that we can let OA group leaders know and arrange for a rendezvous with the group later that evening. If you arrive late because of unplanned transportation problems, call the Outdoor Action Emergency Number
609-947-4786. If arriving after 5:00 p.m., students should go to the Public Safety Office (609-258-1000) at 200 Elm Drive. Public Safety is open 24 hours a day and allows students access to dorm rooms during non-business hours. They do not, however, have room keys to give out. For those arriving after 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, room keys must be picked up after the trip returns, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 12, at Baker Rink.

OUTDOOR ACTION CHECK-IN: Check-in for the Frosh Trip will be in the lobby of Dillon Gym at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 5.  During check-in, students will meet their OA leaders and the other members of their group, as well as receive any equipment needed for the trip. Students do not need to bring any personal equipment to check-in at Dillon Gym; all equipment should be left in the dorms. Groups should be finished with the check-in process around 5:00 p.m. In most cases, students will stay with the group for the rest of the evening so you may want to say goodbye before check-in. If you need to meet your son or daughter later, you should plan to do so after 5:00 p.m. Trip groups go out for dinner on Saturday and spend the evening packing and preparing for the trip. Trip groups stay together in one of the leader’s rooms (not in their own dorm rooms) on Saturday night to be ready for an early bus departure on Sunday morning.

STORAGE: Students should bring all the items needed for the trip to campus. Do not ship items needed for the trip via UPS or other shipping companies; these companies do not begin dorm delivery until after Frosh Trip is over. General items such as clothes, books, and furniture may be stored in dorm rooms during the trip. Items like computers and stereos may be left in the storage area in Gauss Hall. The Gauss Hall storage area will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on September 5. Gauss Hall will be open again on Saturday, September 12, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and on Sunday, September 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to retrieve belongings. On Sunday, September 6, just before the trip leaves, we will collect any small personal valuables such as wallets, cell phones and room keys just before everyone boards the buses. These items will be locked in a high security storage area during the trip and returned to students on Friday, September 11, when they return to campus.

PARENTS’ RECEPTIONS: Parents of Outdoor Action participants are invited to receptions held in each of the residential colleges on Saturday, September 5, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. with remarks by the college masters at 4:00 p.m. The receptions will provide an opportunity for parents to meet members of the Residential College staff. Reception locations are as follows:

Butler College                      New Butler Lounge
Forbes College                     Forbes Terrace (in case of rain, Forbes Common Room)
Mathey College                   Mathey College Common Room
Rockefeller College              Rockefeller Common Room
Whitman College                Community Hall
Wilson College                     Julian Street Library

For parents who are coming to campus on Saturday, September 12, the residential college receptions will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the same locations with welcoming remarks by the college masters at 2:30 p.m. 

TRIP AREAS: Each participant is assigned a Trip Number like BF26. The letters stand for the geographic area and the number is the specific trip. BF26 is trip number 26 in the Black Forest (BF) in Pennsylvania. When students check in they will be given their trip number and that will let you know where they will be traveling. Starting September 5 we will have the trip routes posted online at www.princeton.edu/~oa/ft/routes so you can see where the trips are. To access the trip routes you will need to log into the Web page. Username: Princeton Password: Parent

H1N1/SWINE FLU: In light of continuing cases of H1N1 (swine) flu around the world, the University wants to ensure that individuals planning to come to campus for the Outdoor Action program be aware of the steps to be taken should you develop flu-like symptoms. Students who develop flu-like symptoms within a week before their expected arrival on campus should instead stay at home and will not be able to participate in University activities like Outdoor Action while they may be contagious. Flu-like symptoms are defined as a fever greater than 100 degrees with cough and/or sore throat. A student with fever could resume campus activities if their fever has been gone for at least 24 hours. Those who are traveling to campus by public transportation may want to consider travel insurance in the event that you have to cancel their travel plans. If your son or daughter is forced to cancel their participation because of a flu-like illness in the week leading up to the trip, they will receive a full refund.

Students diagnosed with the flu or flu-like illness should self-isolate in their dorm room (i.e. stay away from others and eat meals in their room) until they are no longer contagious. The guideline is to remain isolated for at least 24 hours after fever is gone except to get medical care (fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine). They should keep away from others as much as possible to prevent the spread of illness to others. If this occurs during the trip we will pick the student up from the trip and either have them self-isolate in a motel room or in their dorm room on campus. A staff member from Outdoor Action would be designated to check-in on the isolated resident and make arrangements for food to be delivered to their room since students with a fever will not be permitted in University dining halls.

DURING THE TRIP:  Outdoor Action monitors all of the trips throughout the week. Our Command Center on campus is staffed with Outdoor Action professional staff and student volunteers answering phone calls and responding to groups in the field. Each group carries a cell phone or satellite phone for emergency communication. Trip leaders have their satellite or cell phones on several hours each day so that we can contact them in case of a family emergency. In each trip area we have one or more Support Teams who are staying in nearby motels to respond to calls from the groups.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS: During the trip, in the event of an emergency, families should call the Outdoor Action office at 609-258-5621 or the Public Safety Office at 609-258-1000 (open 24 hours). An Outdoor Action staff member is on call twenty-four hours a day during the trip. Please call only in an emergency. Non-emergency calls can be made to the general Outdoor Action number at 609-258-6230 between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

I hope this letter has answered any last minute questions you may have about Frosh Trip. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact us by phone at 609-258-6230

Rick Curtis
Director, Outdoor Action