This semester, Point Loma Nazarene University welcomed over 800 new students to campus. Per PLNU tradition, those new students lined up to shake hands with University President Kerry Fulcher.
For many, Fulcher was simply another new face in a new place, but for 13 students, it was a reunion.
Hannah Jernigan, a first-year health science major, was one of those students. Instead of the handshake, she received a hug.
“[He] knows a little bit about me and my story,” Jernigan said. “Coming to school is so much more comfortable and more just relaxed.”
This familiarity began before Jernigan stepped onto campus. In July, she and 12 other incoming freshmen joined Fulcher and four other staff and student leaders for The Way.
Returning to PLNU this summer after a six year hiatus due to COVID-19 and staffing changes, The Way is a five-day backpacking trip designed to welcome incoming first-year students to PLNU and offer a space to build community and connect with nature and God.
Fulcher said that when he got the invitation to join The Way, he immediately knew his response.
“It was a no-brainer for me because it combined two things I love: backpacking and being with students,” Fulcher said in an email interview.
While Fulcher has been backpacking for 12 years, for some of the students joining the trip, this was not only their first time meeting new classmates, but also their first entry into backpacking.
This was the case for Kalyn Bosse, a first-year health science major, who signed up for the trip because she wanted to step out of her comfort zone.
“It was hard,” Bosse said, reflecting on her time. “But it was just so fun.”
For Director of Nicholson Commons, Milton Karahadian; Director of Student Relations Asher Lawson; and Resident Director of Klassen Hall, Danny Butler, this trip was also the culmination of over two years’ work to bring the program back.
This process included scouting and planning hiking routes, ensuring proper training, making a newsletter, advertising, gear maintenance, getting permits and more.
After the extensive prep, The Way leaders and Alexandra Rivera, a third-year business marketing major and LomaOutside leader, welcomed the new students to PLNU on July 19, before leaving for the Courtright Reservoir in the Sierra Nevada mountain range the next morning at 3:00 a.m.
For Eden Murray, a first-year biology chemistry major, the reality of what she was about to do hit her while she was on the flight to San Diego. Not only did she not know anyone on the trip, but she had never been backpacking either.
However, her nerves settled once she met Rivera and Lawson at the airport and they bonded over their shared love of Olivia Dean.
Over the next five days, the team covered around 30 miles through forests and mountains, and past scenic lakes.
Bosse said that even though the physicality of the trip was taxing, it wasn’t the most challenging thing she faced.
“I think the hardest part was trying something new when you don’t know anyone, in a physically demanding environment,” Bosse said.
Murray also said that the immense amount of new things brought challenges, but as the trip went on she formed deeper connections with the people around her, including her future roommate.
The transformation that Murray and other students experienced was part of the reason Lawson was motivated to bring the program back.
“I gave my life to Christ in the backcountry of the Sierra Nevada’s — there’s just a different type of connection [with God] when you are out in the wilderness,” Lawson said. “I just wanted to be able to provide a space where students can have the same experience that I did.”
Jernigan experienced her own kind of transformation. She said that not only did it bring her closer to the people on the trip, but it also showed her the strength she has.
“I felt like I learned so much about myself,” Jernigan said. “I am more capable than I think I am. I had never backpacked. I’ve never got on an airplane and went to the middle of nowhere with a group of people I’ve never met.”
Karahadian spoke of the trip with tears in his eyes.
“I wish I could say that I loved the journey and the backpacking and all of it — but no,” Karahadian said.
Instead, he described walking down the hill back to the vans at the back of the group with Lawson on the last day. He said that could feel God’s presence that day.
“We fist bumped and [Lawson] said ‘dude we did it’. That moment with him and me, when we made it to the van and to see what the Lord had done,” Karahadian said. “Wow, this was all worth it.”
Grace Chaves