Outdoor Nation, in conjunction with The North Face, have issued a countrywide outdoor campus challenge. This challenge aims at getting college students to engage in fun and creative recreations outside.

Now I know what you’re thinking: we live in the closest thing to the tundra besides the actual tundra. Why go outside if you don’t have to? While this is somewhat true, we’re Lakers. We’re as tough as an over cooked steak left outside in the middle of January. So instead of fighting the cold, we must embrace it, to an extent. By that, I mean don’t go play outside in one of our oh-so-wonderful blizzards. You’ll probably die.

As far as playing in the snow goes, where did everyone’s sense of adventure go? Remember when we were kids, and as soon as it snowed we would throw on our snow gear and make a fort or toss a few snowballs at each other? Well now that we’re older, smarter and stronger our winter creations and activities can be that much more epic.

Snow play aside, campus itself gives us many wonderful opportunities to get our blood flowing outside in the fresh air. And now that we’re back from spring break, the seasonal change is right around the corner. That’s right, the sun is coming back.

Speaking of sun and fresh air, did you know that sunlight helps in cases of chronic, acute and of course seasonal depression? Sun stimulates the synthesis of endorphins. This is why we get depressed in the cold, dark, decrepit, wasteland that is winter in Oswego. Sun helps insomnia, raises your metabolism and also improves liver function. So good news. Sun helps you drink too.

But back to campus activities and the great outdoors. We are lucky to have such an open space at Oswego State and now that we can see the grass, we should take advantage of it. Grab a few friends and go throw a football. Take a soccer ball or a lacrosse stick and toss the ball around. Hell, go for a run while watching the sunset. It’s magnificent. This is also a great time to start taking advantage of the outside basketball and tennis courts on campus.

Campus Recreation even gives students outdoor activities to compete in, and these activities are called intramurals. There are several different outdoor leagues sponsored by Campus Recreation including flag football, softball, golf tournaments, basketball tournaments and the color run. Intramurals can be a relaxing and friendly match for the rec leagues or a competitive battle for glory if you choose to play competitively. No matter what, you’re going to have fun, make some friends and if you and your squad know what you’re doing, you might get a championship T-shirt out of it.

About 10 minutes from campus, we also have access to the Rice Creek field station. It is our own private nature preserve for us to explore and enjoy. So take the quick bus up the road from the campus center and go play in the woods.

We are mammals, which means we are animals, which means we need to be outside. We need to feel the wind on our hair and the sun in our face. The snow is leaving, slowly but surely, and the only thing we can do now is to go enjoy our surroundings. So take a break from studying, or your Xbox and go run ,jump and play. After all you’re not getting any younger.