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On a clear, 60-degree night in mid-August, 40 incoming first-year students slept under the stars. The Flatirons were visible, but not from a wilderness perspective. Instead, dozens of sleeping bags dotted the roof of the �鶹��Ѱ�����Rec Center.

The group was taking part in���鶹��Ѱ�����in the Rockies, a pre-semester trip with the �鶹��Ѱ�����Rec Center’s��Outdoor Pursuits program. The students used the night to practice camping with their gear before embarking on a backpacking trip in State Forest State Park, located about 110 miles northwest of campus. Few knew each other.

When they returned a week later, many had forged close friendships in the mountains.

“What I’ve seen is people eventually live together, do dinners, hang out,” said��Sammy Fitterman (Geog’26), who has served as a trip leader and student medical support over the last three years. “When you’re camping with someone and sharing a tent, you really get close.”

The experience offered the students immediate, meaningful connections. As they started their college careers and pursued avenues for physical and mental wellness, they could choose more activities like it — or something completely different.

Climbing, Backcountry Skiing — and Dessert

Fitterman, a senior, became involved with Outdoor Pursuits after a �鶹��Ѱ�����climbing trip as a first-year student. Now he runs workshops — such as ski and snowboard wax classes — and works at the rec center’s climbing gym and gear rental center, which equips interested students with outdoor gear ranging from tents and hiking poles to rain jackets and headlamps.

He also is president of the �鶹��Ѱ�����Backcountry Club, which organizes about six student backcountry skiing trips in Colorado mountain towns during the spring semester.

“We stay in an AirBnB and cook family-style dinners for everyone,” said Fitterman, who’s from Santa Monica, California. “Those weekend trips are a really great opportunity to connect.”

During his first year at CU,��Aidan Azar��(ElEngr’27), from Philadelphia, went on the �鶹��Ѱ�����in the Rockies trip with Fitterman. He quickly jumped at the chance to join Outdoor Pursuits’ student board, eager to connect with other Buffs in nature.

“I came to Colorado to try something new,” he said. “I loved the outdoors and the mountains, and when I went on that trip, I met some of my best friends.”

Last spring, Azar led a workshop on backcountry cooking. The theme was desserts, and the class made funnel cakes out of pancake batter to minimize the amount of ingredients and equipment that would be hauled through the forest on a backcountry camping trip. He said this type of enjoyment takes priority over his rigorous engineering schedule.

“I make sure I’m setting specific times to climb or hike with my friends, even in the middle of a busy week,” he said.

Anya Keena (Anth, Geol’26), from Detroit,finds her outdoor community helps her “let loose” after days in the geology library. Though she and her friends are in different majors, they have bonded over a shared love of the outdoors. When she came to CU, she was afraid of heights, but now she finds herself rock climbing regularly after learning skills of the sport with other climbing students. She also enjoys hiking and completed a wilderness first responder course last summer.

“We don’t have a ton of things connecting us academically,” she said. “I’m always interested to hear about what they’re doing, but at the end of the day, the thing that connects us is the outdoor curiosity.”

Events for Connection

Sometimes a one-off event can bring students mental or physical respite from their daily grind.

Sarah Laughlin (IntPhys, Soc’26), from Newton, Massachusetts, works for��CU’s Health Promotion office, where she helps plan student events focused on physical, emotional, financial or spiritual well-being. Last spring, for instance, she helped coordinate a 120-person spa night that included nail painting, aromatherapy and plant-related crafts.

Other events included late-night sober party alternatives and a “non-violent rage room,” Laughlin said, where students could draw on walls or throw colorful streamers.

“You get students who are just passing by, or people who hear about them and are so grateful to do these things for free,” said Laughlin.

Laughlin, who hopes for a career in public health, said her favorite wellness outlet is playing for CU’s Ultimate Frisbee sport club team, one of 30 teams offered through the university’s Sport Club program.

Goats and Giggles

Sometimes, though, wellness simply is fostered through an hour of spontaneous giggles — and animal snuggles.

Each spring, �鶹��Ѱ�����Rec Center student employee��Treyanna Brown (CompSci’27), who is from Albuquerque, plans her favorite student event on campus: goat yoga. Brown loves carrying the two-week-old goats from their farm’s truck to the rec center yoga room, bottle feeding them, and giving them extra cuddles once they get sleepy after the yoga sessions.

The four-session event, which often serves around 30 people per session, is less about yoga and more about joy, Brown said.

“It’s a really good stress-reliever,” she said. “You can’t be thinking about everything you need to get done because you have a baby goat in your lap.”

Beyond the laughter, friendships and long list of new things to try, �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder proves the path to wellness can be fun — and meaningful.

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Photo by Glenn Asakawa (rock climbing); courtesy Sarah Laughlin (gratitude garden); courtesy Treyanna Brown (goat yoga)