Students kayaking on the Willamette River.

Spring 2017 — Adventure can mean a lot of things, like kayaking the rivers of Oregon and having dinner over an open campfire. To Olivia Cameron, adventure also means leadership and community. Through the Adventure Leadership Institute (ALI), Olivia found her place in the Adventure Club, where she made friends who also served as mentors.

After participating in one of Adventure Club’s kayaking trips on a whim, Olivia knew that it was the place she wanted to be. Throughout her life, she had admired people with strong leadership skills and wanted to become like them. As part of ALI, she got her chance to meet a group of people who she could count on as leaders, and also find the leader in herself.

“I saw all these people who, first of all, had really great leadership strengths and seemed to be natural leaders,” she said. “I told myself I really hoped to be one of those people one day. I had no idea that it would be so soon.”