Lucrecia Flores, instructor of exercise science at Schreiner, and her husband, Danny, recently took six students from her Individualized Fitness class on a three-day kayaking and camping trip to Garner State Park near Uvalde, Texas. The students who went on the trip were Beth Hodgson, a freshman from Houston; Elizabeth Garcia, freshman, San Benito, Texas; Marian Collier, sophomore, Terrell, Texas; Ethan Isaacks, freshman, Baytown, Texas; Brock Griffin, freshman, Georgetown, Texas; and Kelly Rundzieher, freshman, Anahuac, Texas. Along with kayaking, the group biked, hiked, fished and tossed a football.

"The goal was to experience different types of exercise outside of the walls of a gym or the loop around campus,” Flores said. “We also made sure all the meals were nutritious—low fat, low sodium, low cholesterol and plenty of fruits and veggies. We cooked all our meals on an open fire.

The weather got cold, but the fire was warm. The only scary part was the skunk that came up to our campsite a number of times, but the boys ran it off each time. Kelly was awarded the Burning Rubber award, Brock received the Top Hiker award for making his own walking stick, Ethan received the Angler award for catching the only fish, the three girls received the Endurance Kayak award for making it all the way down the river after the boys failed attempt, but most importantly Cooper the family dog was awarded the #1 Camper award.

“In the end, our greatest accomplishment was bringing six students together from different parts of the state who might not normally hang out with each other. Now these students have created new friendships and a lifelong memory. They can be seen on campus talking about their weekend Cross Training in EXSI 1201.”

Flores said that there will be another camping trip in the spring with the Walk and Run Club. Those who want to participate will need to qualify for the trip with 20 visits to the club. The club meets in front of the Mountaineer Fitness Center at 6 a.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 6 a.m. and 1 p.m., Friday; 1 p.m. on Saturday; and Sunday at 6 p.m.