UPDATE: Today is the last day to participate in this year’s Spring Break Match campaign. Thanks to yesterday’s generous response (and an early morning surge), Wyoming Catholic College supporters have made gifts totaling $53,488, pushing us past our initial $50,000 goal and unlocking our second challenge goal of $65,000. If you have not yet joined the match, please consider making a gift TODAY!

Today, on the final day of our Spring Break Week, as our students travel back to Lander from their various far-flung locations around the Mountain West, it’s time to highlight something that could get lost in the embedded trip reports we’ve been sending out over the past few days.

Wyoming Catholic College students are frequently “pushed out of their comfort zones” during these Spring Break trips, whether it’s navigating the daunting rapids of Cataract Canyon, the arid and sometimes bewildering deserts of the “Lawrence of Arabia” trek, working through the difficult questions of identity and purpose in beautiful isolation outside Moab , or grappling with the tricky question of transference on the Rock Climbing and Creative Writing trip. But despite the importance of these many obstacles (which are essential to the effectiveness of the week), it’s also important to note another feature that is present on each and every trip our students undertake:

Joy.

While the challenges these young men and women vanquish in the back country and in the classroom are undeniably impressive, equally impressive is the mood of joyous friendship and camaraderie that permeates their time together. It’s one of the true hallmarks of a WCC student, and one that visitors to campus remark on with great regularity. These students are joyful witnesses to the truth and goodness and beauty that surrounds them each day here in Lander, and that means everything to us!

So today, as Spring Break Week draws to a close, we’re highlighting the Surfin’ in SoCal Trip.

As seventeen members strong, this was the largest group that set out from Lander for Spring Break this week. Consider us unsurprised. It’s been an astonishingly warm winter in Wyoming this year, but we’re an undeniably wintry environment when compared to the Sunshine State. So these young people were overjoyed—there’s that word again!—at the opportunity to journey to warmer, sunnier climes.

Also, as noted by such literary stalwarts as Melville, “there’s magic in the water that draws all men away form the land, that leads them over hills, down creeks and streams and rivers to the sea.” And a land-locked state such as Wyoming, while we have mountains and rivers to offer aplenty, can’t really compete with the famous waves of the West Coast when it comes to that particular kind of magic.

The group spent the majority of their week in the balmy waves off the shores of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, including several days at Emma Wood State Beach and Mondo Beach. A member of our Student Life team tagged along on the trip, as well, and the group had the particular pleasure of meeting up with several of the participants’ parents who live in the area and who were able to give pointers to those less familiar with the world of surfing.

Given the realities of the tides, the mornings were of particular focus, as the best times for surfing fell between 7:00AM–10:00AM. The trip plan notes were particularly humorous when compared with some of our backpacking and canyoneering groups, peppered with uncommon (for us) terms such as “Peak swell and clean morning,” “decent leftovers,” and our particular favorite, “Mellow and longboard-friendly.”

It’s been a wonderful week for our students, filled with reminders of why the Outdoor Program at Wyoming Catholic is such a vital part of what we do. And we’re deeply grateful for all who have joined this year’s match campaign in support of these hopeful, joyful young men and women. Please consider joining in, if you have not already done so. Please remember that the gifts you make in the next few hours will be matched by generous members of our Board of Directors, DOUBLING the impact of your gift up to $65,000. And please keep these young people in your prayers as the end of the year (and Graduation) draws near. God bless you!

Gifts made through the online form HERE will be automatically assigned to the Match Campaign, and will appear in the Goal Meter at the top of the Campaign website as it is updated each day. If you would prefer to make a gift over the phone, via check, or through another philanthropic vehicle (such as a gift of stock or a mutual fund transfer), please contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at oia@wyomingcatholic.edu or by phone at (877) 332-2930, and the Advancement team will ensure your gift is assigned to the match.