I recently came across an interesting collection of the Great Hollow Wilderness School, a Wesleyan run summer wilderness program for disadvantaged youth. In the late 1960s, a 1,440 acre wildlife preserve on New Fairfield (almost on the New York-Connecticut border) was will to Wesleyan and in 1969, the Great Hollow Wilderness School was created. The program was created as a sort of combination of Upward Bound and Outward Bound. Wesleyan was invested in the project in many ways, including staffing the program with students and even creating a graduate level class in outdoor education leadership.
In 1985, Wesleyan decided to use the land for something other than the Great Hollow Wilderness School, and began the WOW program, the Wesleyan Orientation in the Wilderness. Wesleyan hosted a few-night camping trip for incoming freshman. The majority of the collection, besides some files with program information, is made up of the paraphernalia from both the Great Hollow Wilderness School and WOW, including the very 1980s t-shirts from the summer program, some goofy hats, and the WOW water bottles given to the participants of the program.
Now knowing about the Great Hollow land, I am curious as to what has happened to it. Does Wesleyan still own it? There is very little written information in this collection and I would like to find out more. How long did the WOW program last? I can’t find much about it after the mid-1990s, but is seemed to be a success. Do we use the land for anything, even perhaps for field work during the year? What has happened to the Wilderness School? I should only hope that the school is using such a great piece of land appropriately and I would encourage the reinstatement of a program like WOW.
Dean Hill killed WOW in 1999 or 2000. She didn’t think it achieved the goals of orientation or something similarly vague and inexplicable. It probably also cost a bit more than having a discussion circle on Andrus field. I liked WOW; they should bring it back if possible. (I have no idea what is being done with the land now…)
Great Hollow Wilderness School is still doing the same work it did in 1969, except we only have 890 acres now. I am the program director at Great Hollow and have seen 6 WOW’s in action, before the program was cancelled. I invite you to check out our website and if you feel strongly about the work we do, give us a call and we can speak about possible programming.
Great Hollow Wilderness School is still doing the same work it did in 1969, except we only have 890 acres now. I am the program director at Great Hollow and have seen 6 WOW’s in action, before the program was cancelled. I invite you to check out our website and if you feel strongly about the work we do, give us a call and we can speak about possible programming.
I am surprised Wesleyan no longer does the WOW program (I graduated in 1996 and did the WOW program as an incoming frosh in 1992)– it was a powerful way to promote teamwork, environmental awareness, and create lasting friendships. Now I am pining for one of those WOW t-shirts!
I’ve never knew that there are wilderness programs before. It is wonderful to see that an institution would last this long to give great attention to teens who are struggling…
Wilderness Programs