OPRA (2011 Strategic Plan)

OPRA promotes substance-free activities and love for nature, improves the physical health of campus, and fosters team spirit and mental strength for Hampshire and Five College students. Proposals for enhanced support and funding for OPRA include promotion of physical activity on campus through intramural sports, athletic and non-athletic programming, and outdoor program offerings; improved and enhanced gym equipment and facility; and weekend activities with shorter time commitments. Planning proposals were received that asked if Hampshire might examine the possibility of reviving OPRA’s pre-college (orientation) and post-graduation outdoor programs. In the past, OPRA organized weeklong outdoor experiences for the entire incoming class as part of orientation, to serve as a community-building activity and to help build new student participation in sub-free activities. The post-graduation outdoor program involved recent graduates in days of outdoor activities with OPRA staff and the students’ faculty committee members.

Comments
Please include your thoughts on the importance of the initiative, how to frame the issue, things that may be missing, and any additional comments here (you can do so by logging into Hampedia and clicking edit):


 * It might be a good idea to integrate OPRA into the academic program at Hampshire. I don't know how to do this without it turning into some sort of phys-ed requirement, but there should be a recognition that if students want to develop skills in sports/martial arts/outdoor recreation/etc. that's just as valuable as, say, painting or music. Devin Morse
 * Devin's idea is great. I think we should have some kind of P.E. reuqirement. This is a great way to help students like me to stay active. xg07
 * Hampshire does not need any more requirements or bureaucracy of any kind. The problem of respect for OPRA relates to a deep bias that Hampshire has never confronted regarding ways of knowing and learning that in the end has denegrated anything other than reductionist analyticalism as the primary mode of learning/scholarship. Failing to understand the importance of doing interpersonal skill development, team building, experiential education, and kinesthetic learning is a deep flaw in Hampshire's purported concern with multicultural sensitivity, in terms of cultures of learning and knowing. Solve that problem, and OPRA will find itself in interdisciplinary relationships with every aspect of Hampshire's academic canon. bt83
 * II agree with these comments about integrating kinesthetic learning, experiential learning, physical activity, health and wellness as a more integral part of Hampshire's educational model.