DU’s coveted Kennedy Mountain Campus (KMC), located in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, is ready for its second year of programming. The campus is the product of a generous donation by DU alum James C. Kennedy and is named in his honor. The experiences at KMC are provided entirely through gift funding, meaning that no tuition is used to develop and maintain the campus and the opportunities it offers. 

The First Ascent is based on the elements of DU’s Four Dimensions and is meant to foster connections between first-year students as they navigate a new space, allow them to escape the city and appreciate nature and provide the opportunity to develop a toolkit for growth and reflection that will help them in their first year at DU. The first group of students ventured to the mountain campus in September of last year. Students raved about the experience and encouraged other first-year students to also participate. 

There were definitely some bumps in the road in the formation of the First Ascent program, but the wide network of staff involved listened to student feedback and made changes one day at a time. So what is all the hype around KMC about? Let’s break it down.

1. Outdoor activities: Fun activities like climbing, guided hikes and a high and low ropes course might be the first thing people think of when they think of the mountain campus. Yes, all of those activities are available, but there’s so many other ways to enjoy being present in nature: laying in hammocks, listening to the birds and other wildlife and stargazing. 

“In the past year we’ve moved away from it only being this outdoor, wilderness experience to this holistic experience. You can go up there and just find some peace, and be present in nature, and connect with other students, maybe challenging yourself,” said Amber Cardamone, Executive Director for New Student Experience and Family Programs.

2. Independence: Just because the First Ascent offers a variety of activity rotations doesn’t mean students aren’t able to do their own thing. Staff emphasize that the experience is different for everyone. It’s more of a choose-your-own-adventure type of trip. 

“The best part of KMC is the ability to explore. It’s a big property and it’s diverse in terms of what you can find in different pockets of campus,” said Matt Jensen, director of the Outdoor Experience at KMC.

3. Food: The meals at the mountain campus are reason enough to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive up. Sodexo can’t compare to the delicious meals provided by Mountain Berry Culinary and their wonderful cooks, who make dining with dietary restrictions look easy.

4. Staff: From the wonderful cooks in the kitchen and the engaging outdoor staff to the administration, everyone is passionate, welcoming and responsive to feedback. “It just feels like everyone is a bit more polished [than last year],” said Jensen.

The list of amazing aspects of the mountain campus just goes on, so students will have to go up and experience it for themselves. For the students who went up last year and left feedback, the administration has been listening and the mountain campus is ever-improving. “We look at the feedback every day so getting surveys and feedback is very important,” said Cardamone.

Changes

1. Registration: There was a lot of confusion last year around the registration process, making it so that many first-year students didn’t get to have the First Ascent experience. “This year instead of assigning weekends based on their first-year seminar, we had students self-select and the new system on Crimson Connect allows them to add and drop themselves,” said Cardamone.

2. Wifi and computer lab: The main concern of students about going to the mountain campus last year was that they may get behind in their classes. With the introduction of internet access at KMC, that’s no longer a problem. “While we do have internet up there, a lot of people choose to somewhat disconnect from it because you’re in the wilderness and in nature,” said Cardamone.

3. Schedule: There are now only two activities rotations daily and students have complete freedom to decide what they want to participate in. The layout for Sunday has also changed significantly in that there is only a brief morning activity rotation; yoga, a hike or a scramble, then brunch before they send everyone off, returning to the main campus at around 2:00 p.m.

4. Organization: A couple more minor changes that have made a difference at KMC are the addition of a campus map with hiking routes, additional signage to make directions more clear, a partnership with a ranch just across the road to take students horseback riding, a number of dispersed hammock stands and more advanced audiovisual technology at the dining hall and welcome center.

If you’ve been to the mountain campus and have feedback for staff or want to share your thoughts on the experience, the form can be found here. But first, read the following developments that are current works in progress at KMC.

Future developments

1. KMC website: The main struggle of the whole program is the dispersal of information about what is offered and how to get involved at KMC. Staff are hard at work developing a website that will be a hub for all things mountain campus from the First Ascent experience to other programming and classes available. 

“We’ve been anxiously awaiting having a centralized place where people can figure out all of the various ways that you can get up here. That will be monumental,” said Jensen.

2. Interterm courses: There is the potential for a variety of for-credit courses from different disciplines to be offered at KMC during interterm periods, but there are some kinks to work out before this comes to fruition. 

3. Affinity group/upperclassmen access: While KMC is mainly focusing on the use of the mountain campus for the First Ascent experience, they recognize that first-year students aren’t the only ones who want to reap the benefits. This advancement is on the back burner for now, but these DU community members have not been forgotten. 

“We’re realizing students really want to have this experience with certain affinity groups or identities that they align with, so we’re trying to work with that feedback and coordinate with other organizations and departments on campus to try to get students to be able to go up,” said Cardamone.

The Kennedy Mountain Campus has great potential for the development of more programs and for collaboration with more student organizations. Stay tuned—the future of KMC is bright with opportunity.