Going to a small school, or any school, requires students to find new ways of getting involved and recreating the social circles that once came so easily. Every school has some sort of involvement fair during the first few weeks of classes where all the clubs and organizations come out and show people what they have to offer. There seems to be one club that always gets overlooked, however: the outdoors club. Almost every school has some club that deals with exploring nature/adventuring and not enough students appreciate what this club has to offer.

1. Outdoors clubs make membership easy.

If you are someone who has always been apprehensive about taking that first adventurous step, then an outdoors club is right for you. In most cases, club meetings consist of slapping your name on an email list and you'll get some info about an upcoming trip every month or so. Sometimes, the trip may be a simple hike through the local state park. Other times, you may be invited to ski black diamonds. Either way, it's totally your call as to what you're alright with doing.

2. Outdoors club members get cool T-shirts.

This one is kind of self-explanatory, but, in the case of my outdoors club at Wittenberg, our club president designs sick T-shirts every year that people actually wear around campus. If you like showing off how outdoorsy you are, then this may just be reason number one for you to join.

3. Nature teaches you about yourself.

Sometimes when we are in college, we can get a little too swept up in what's going on. It's understandable that with classes, sports, and clubs, students get stressed. For most, the weekends are a time to go out and party your butt off in order to blow off some steam. Sometimes, though, a weekend camping trip may actually be what you need. Nature has a way of causing people to look at life in a different way. Going on a trip to Hocking Hills will let your body recharge from partying and you may even learn something about yourself along the way.

4. Photography

The last and maybe the coolest part about joining your school's outdoors club is that if you are into taking pictures, you will have an unlimited canvas to choose from. An even cooler effect nature tends to have is that it makes people who are not even into photography feel the urge to capture their surroundings.