We believe that physical health and mental health complement each other. There is a wide range of physical activities available–from an extensive wilderness program, to yoga, to squash, to a climbing wall in the Lansing Fieldhouse on campus–that provide students with outlets for physical exercise. The Lansing Fieldhouse also features a weight room, a gymnasium, cardio equipment, and dance studios.

UWC-USA also has special-use permits with New Mexico and Arizona to utilize the Santa Fe National Forest, Carson National Forest, and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. That allows our students to access remote wilderness areas and provides settings for teaching navigation, decision making, and leadership. Students are trained in wilderness skills and first aid to serve as mentors and guides, and can volunteer to become Wilderness Leaders. The Wilderness program also sponsors day hikes close to the UWC-USA campus, longer excursions for the purpose of training Wilderness Leaders, rock climbing, and canoeing activities.

Our farm on campus – known as the Agroecology Research Center, or ARC – trains students in the skills and techniques needed to practice sustainable agriculture in an arid environment while also providing a place for practical, hands-on work where they can learn new skills and discover meaningful application of their classroom learning.

Working at the ARC stimulates innovation by challenging students to think about new and different ways to approach problems such as pest management, habitat conservation, and waste management. Students engage in planting, weeding, irrigating, harvesting, prepping food, helping with farm animals, trail work, and ecological restoration, and more.

In addition, our faculty undergo CPR and first aid training every two years and many are also Wilderness First Responders who are trained to help manage basic first aid issues. Every student now undergoes a full behavioral health screening in September and the School’s Health Team reviews these screenings to evaluate the health needs of each student.

To learn more about our offerings around physical health, please click here.