Spring
HORN HAPPENINGS
2016
The periodic newsletter of Horn Field Campus
DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION, PARK AND TOURISM ADMINISTRATION
Thanks to those who attended last
fall’s Lodge and Libations event. We
continue to receive great feedback
about the event and the promise of
an Outdoor Education Building. We
were grateful that Doc could be in
attendance and that so many alumni,
faculty and community members
shared their Horn experiences.
As you know, we are still raising funds
for the new building to be named
after Doc Lupton. Here is what is
currently happening:
• We have nearly $70,000 saved for
the cost of building!
• We have been working closely
with RPTA faculty and WIU’s Facilities
Management on drawing and
obtaining new renders. You are
amongst the first to see them here!
• Marketing and awareness are still
upmost in our minds. Expect to see
more about Horn in the upcoming
Western News!
• The Horn Field Campus staff is
still busy doing what they do best
– providing leadership training to
students and the community!
image here
Greetings From Horn!
It’s been awhile since our last newsletter;
however, with the renewal of the spring
season ahead, it seemed a fitting time to
resume the Happenings. In a recent email
I received from Doc, he stated, “Spring at
Horn is a really wonderful time. I have fond
memories of introducing students to spring
at Horn with its great variety of plant and
tree life -- and birds, and more, of course!
What an awesome responsibility you have
to introduce students to Horn and all of its
wonderful parts every year!” I am pleased to
share that this spring brings another round
The vision of a new building is
becoming a reality because of the
generosity of friends like you. Please
mark you calendar now for the 2016
Lodge and Libations, to be held in the
Fall of 2016!
of many wonderful opportunities. Upcoming
events include Camp Rocky, directed by
Dr. Schlag’s class, the continuation of the
reforestation project by Dr. Porter’s class,
ECOEE planning weekends with Jeff,
chainsaw safety workshops with Dr. Tom
Green, dozens of volunteer groups helping
with spring cleanup and planting, our annual
Arbor Day celebration, campus weekend
retreats, and Dr. Yoder teaching HELP about
beekeeping, just to name a few! I hope that
after you read this, you will go outside, take a
deep breath of fresh air, and listen to nature,
at least for a moment, as it really is a great
day to be alive. - Mindy
image here
Please feel free to reach out by e-mail
at DM-Moon@wiu.edu if I can provide
any further information about how we
are putting your gift to work.
Dana Moon
Director of Development, Marketing
and Community Relations
College of Education and Human
Services
Western Illinois University
Save the Date!
LL Photo
LL Photo
The 2016 Lodge & Libations will
be on September 17, 5 - 7 pm
wiu.edu/hfc / 309-298-HORN / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram . . . Text to Give! Text HORN50 to 41444
HORN HAPPENINGS
Greetings! My name is Jane
Simkins and I’ve been a
graduate assistant at Horn Field Campus since
August of 2015. I’m currently working towards
my Master’s degree in Resource Management
and am soaking up every bit of knowledge
and fun along the way. Needless to say, being
a graduate assistant at Horn has made a huge
impact on my present and my future. Before
coming to Horn, I served as a marketing
coordinator for a small community college
in Iowa for a couple of years. While I was
grateful for the position, there was something
missing in my career that I could no longer
ignore- my passion for the outdoors. Enter,
Horn Field Campus. I cannot stress
enough how grateful I am for the opportunity
to work in the outdoors and learn skills I
never thought I’d have. One of these skills is
tree identification. Although I’m not sure why
someone who knows very little about trees
would volunteer to teach a class on them, I
did. Thankfully, Mindy came to my rescue
Jane
with stacks of books on native Illinois trees and
my fellow graduate assistant, Amber, helped
me identify those around Horn. This gesture of
teamwork is one of the building blocks that make
Horn Field Campus the strong asset it has been
and will continue to be. Horn is open to teach
those who are willing to learn by taking them out
of their comfort zones and into the woods. Thank
you, Horn Field Campus, for nudging me out of
the thin of it and into the thicket.
Amber
I have successfully completed
my first semester of graduate
school and my first semester as a graduate
assistant at Horn Field! I grew up in a small
town in Wisconsin where I love to fish, hunt,
bike, hike, camp, and play sports. Being exposed
to the outdoors at a young age allowed me to
fall in love with the environment and the many
resources within it. Through this love came
a passion of wanting to protect our natural
resources and environment, otherwise it will
soon be gone. Throughout the past few years I
have gained a great deal of knowledge about our
resources and environment and look to continue
learning as I complete my master’s an move
onto a professional career. While working at
Horn Field Campus I have had the opportunity
to practice many techniques, including building
my natural resource management practices,
as well as gaining an understanding of facility
management, and volunteer coordination. A day
never goes by where I have not learned something
new! Horn Field Campus is a place to call home.
The entire Horn Field Campus staff welcomes
all visitors with open arms and looks to provide
individuals with an optimal experience.
When I was an undergrad in
the Journalism and English
Department here at Western, I’d come out to
Horn Field Campus to spend my afternoons
and weekends with friends from the RPTA
department, hanging out at the climbing tower,
helping here and there, and decompressing.
Nearly five years later, I ran into Horn’s Program
Coordinator Mindy Pheiffer and informed
her that I had been considering applying to
grad school for Resort Management. She
immediately told me to “Get on it!” and to get
an assistantship, too. Little did either of us know
that the following fall semester I’d be out here
working for her as the HFC Challenge Course
Manager.
We all hit the ground running in August,
planning for Lodge & Libations, a 50-year
anniversary celebration of Horn and fundraising
event in support of our future outdoor education
building, as well as creating and running the
annual Corn Maze and Haunted Trail, both of
which continue to be major revenue generators.
Simultaneously, I fully immersed myself in
Erin
A few
words
from our
graduate
assistants
the CCM position by getting familiar
with all of our awesomely energetic and
knowledgeable facilitators who make our
Teams Course, High Ropes Course, and
Climbing Tower possible. With absolutely
no experience in challenge courses and
a full season of more than 30 groups out
here, there was a lot of “learning by doing,”
and with the help of those facilitators and
Mindy’s incessant encouragement, it all
came together beautifully.
Highs of the semester include doing
the Power Pole (twice!), seeing the many
ways in which groups come together, and
spending several hours in the Crow’s Nest
transforming tears into giggles as I sent
participants down the zip line. Lows don’t
even exist. I never expected to learn so
much through this assistantship, but I’ll
always appreciate that it happened.
Moving forward, as is the case in an
academic setting, we’re losing some of
those highly valued facilitators to coveted
“grown-up” jobs—careers, if you will—and
we’re looking for awesomely energetic
replacements. Being a facilitator at Horn
is one of the most rewarding experiences
one could hope for. Anyone interested
in training to become a part of our team
should call 309/298-HORN, or email EEMcCarthy@wiu.edu, for more information.
wiu.edu/hfc / 309-298-HORN / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram . . . Text to Give! Text HORN50 to 41444