This year, however, Trips are running a little differently. Changes to the Fall term schedule forced Trips to be pushed significantly earlier than usual, creating an overlap with the Summer academic term, namely final examination period.
Farzeen Mahmud '12, this year's assistant Trips director, said that the transition between the old and new schedules has been much easier than predicted.
"We anticipated it to be a lot more hectic," Mahmud said. "We've been thinking about these schedule changes since January, and we've been working with the dean of the College's office closely to make sure things go smoothly."
The Trips directorate has also been working closely with the Fsreshman Orientation team to facilitate the transition between Trips and the condensed Orientation period, according to Mahmud. Expectations of a decrease in the number of sophomores participating in Trips as trip leaders and on support crews were largely unmet.
"As it turns out, we have the same number of sophomores participating in Trips as in years past," Mahmud said. "They're just leading trips during later sections."
Scheduling issues have been slightly more problematic for sophomores on support crews, because they also must deal with schoolwork in their sophomore summer classes. Jacqui Calloway '14, a member of Lodj Croo, said that although the Trips directorate insists that academic work comes before Trips activities, it is often frustrating to manage both commitments.
"I'm the only '14 on Lodj Croo with in-class exams, so I have to miss being at the Lodge for the first two sections," Calloway said. "The sophomores have had to miss out on a lot of daytime activities as well to study for final exams or work on final papers."
Calloway said that although Croo members have known about the scheduling conflict since the beginning of the summer, managing classes and Croo work is still difficult.
"I have to figure out how to get a ride to the Lodge after my last exam, because everyone else on Croo will already be there," Calloway said. "I guess I just didn't realize how much overlap there would be."
Ian Blanco '14, a member of H-Croo, said he felt torn between his academic and Croo commitments.
"I feel like I'm in this space where I can't dedicate myself 100 percent to either being on Croo or being in classes," Blanco said. "I just wish I had been better prepared so I could take full advantage of being on a Croo."
Gina Greenwalt '14, who is on Vox Croo, said she will have to turn in her final papers early because of the mobile nature of her Croo, which is in charge of trip safety, raiding trips and providing supplies and support in Hanover and at the Lodge.
"So far we've had a couple group meetings to bond, and we've done some shopping and some artwork," Greenwalt said. "We leave later this week for the Vox Hole, where we'll stay during Trips, so I'm just trying to finish my final papers a week early."
While Croo members speculated that there would be scheduling changes in the future to accommodate the overlap between Trips and classes, the directorate said that there will likely be no changes in future years.
"Future Trips will probably have to work with this model, but that's OK," Mahmud said. "Organizing Trips with the schedule has been difficult, but not insurmountable."
Although many issues other than the timing of Trips were considered when the academic term changes were made, the administration has been collaborating with the Trips directorate to make the transition easier, according to Mahmud.
"The schedule changes happened before we were directors, but the College has been flexible with us," she said.
