Weekend activities are enjoyable and make the place buzz with life as students come together to appreciate the leisure living at Northwood can offer. Students are given many activity options to decide how they want to spend their time, including opportunities to go out into the beautiful town of Lake Placid and surrounding Adirondack region and explore.
Weekend activities don’t just happen on their own. A committee of students, coordinated by Ms. Leigh Riffle, Director of Residence Life, generates ideas for activities each week that they hope will engage and entertain students during the coming weekend.
Riffle wants students to have a voice in weekend activities. “Weekend activities should be activities the students want to do and participate in,” Riffle said, “which is why students have such a significant say in what is offered on the weekends.”
Some photos from weekend activities taken from Northwood’s Facebook feed:
The group is called the Student Events/Activities Committee and is made up of 20 students and takes into consideration the events happening in town, the weather and season, and the cost of the activity.
Last year, with all the COVID restrictions, the school was unable to offer many off campus activities. Things are much improved this year.
With the revitalization of NOC (Northwood Outing Club) the committee is planning to take full advantage of what NOC has to offer students with various weekend excursions led by NOC.
In the start of this fall season, students would usually have the chance to enjoy the crisp fall weather wit events like apple- and pumpkin-picking, gardening, outdoor Friday-Festivals and Bonfires with smores.
A huge consideration for the school is the equal balance between physical and mental activities. Ms. Riffle reminds the committee to include the interests of all students. Activities should be attractive to students who enjoy sports and physical activities, so they may plan ‘Just Dance’ competitions or intramural tournaments like soccer, volleyball and spike ball. Other students may be more attracted to events like Trivia Night, Karaoke, or various art events. Often, students are given the opportunity to go out to support their peers in their athletic endeavors like hockey and soccer games.
The committee also keeps in mind the travel schedules of athletic teams. Sometimes a highly anticipated event may be moved a week or two later so that a travelling team can participate when they are home. It is crucial that the sports teams can enjoy these weekend events because many students travel most weekends.
Mrs. Riffle has reminded students that the weekend activity offerings are up to them. “What you guys ask for the school wants to give, and we do our absolute best to make sure that students are having the best residential experience possible,” Riffle told the committee recently.
