Even During Summer, Campus Recreation Helps Students Get Active Outside
Image by Ed Brennen
08/13/2024
By Ed Brennen
“Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!”
The surfing instructor’s words of encouragement were nearly drowned out by the churning ocean as Franzi Hoene used her arms to steer herself in front of a wave and lifted herself up onto her surfboard.
It wasn’t a big wave — no taller than a small stack of textbooks — but it was enough to carry the rising senior biomedical engineering major a good 40 feet toward shore before she hopped off her board into the warm, knee-deep water.
“It was definitely fun,” Hoene said two hours later, after she and seven fellow UMass Lowell students called it a day on their surfing excursion in Rye, New Hampshire, with the Outdoor Adventure Program (OAP).
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Run by Campus Recreation, OAP offers affordable, guided trips across New England — and beyond — throughout the year to students of every skill level. Popular activities include hiking, biking, rock climbing, kayaking and skiing.
The recent surfing trip to Jenness State Beach in Rye included transportation to and from campus and a one-hour lesson from staff at the Summer Sessions Surf Shop (which provided wetsuits and boards), followed by two hours of surfing time.
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“It was an amazing day,” said Boucher, who had tried surfing once before. “When the instructors were out there pushing us, it was fine, but it got a little trickier when they left and we were on our own.”
Boucher discovered OAP, and a love of the outdoors, as an undergraduate exercise science major. During her junior year, she participated in a spring break backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon.
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Antonellis, who also works as a mechanic in the UML Bike Shop and as an instructor at the Kayak Center, enjoys getting other students excited about the outdoors.
“Not to sound cheesy, but when I was younger, that’s where I really found myself,” said Antonellis, who is from Harwich, Massachusetts.
It was the first time surfing for Ali Fallah ’21, an earth system science Ph.D. student from Iran. He started taking OAP trips while pursuing a master’s degree in environmental studies at UML and is now an OAP frequent flier.
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“One of the reasons I stayed here for my Ph.D. is because of this program,” Fallah said as he carried his surfboard across the beach. “It’s an opportunity for me to learn something new and gain new experiences. It’s good to get out of the city and take a break from studying, especially for graduate students and for international students.”
Brand-new students enjoy the adventures as well.
Gavin Tuomi, an incoming first-year applied biomedical sciences major from Holden, Massachusetts, saw the surfing trip advertised on Campus Rec’s Instagram feed and decided to dive in.
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“I’ve always wanted to give surfing a try. I’m obviously the youngest one here, but it was a good opportunity to meet some new people,” said Tuomi, who looks forward to joining more OAP trips in the future.
Hoene enjoys snowboarding and skateboarding, but the Woburn, Massachusetts, native had never tried surfing. She shared the experience with her mom, Penny Maciejka-Hoene, who joined the trip.
“She asked me to come. At that age, they don’t want to be around you, so I thought I’d better take advantage of the opportunity,” said Maciejka-Hoene, whose four children have all attended UML.
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“It’s interesting that a lot of these students are STEM,” she added as she took a video of her daughter catching a wave. “It’s important for them to do things like this to build social relationships outside of their core curriculum.”
As the sun began to set on a perfect afternoon at Jenness Beach, several of the wiped-out surfers floated on their boards about 30 yards offshore, bobbing in the blue of the Atlantic. The fall semester seemed far away.