On The Road
Saturday September 20th, 2025
Students are invited to participate in On the Road (OTR), a day-trip to build connections and explore beyond PLU. Rooted in our values of diversity, justice, and sustainability, OTR will center community building through a diverse selection of activities that uplift our interconnectedness to each other and our environments.
2025 OTR: Joy is an Act of Resistance
“Joy is an act of resistance” (Toi Derricotte, 2009)
JOY is a powerful opportunity for connection, rejuvenation, and disruption. Different from happiness, JOY can be cultivated alongside experiences of challenge and injustice and is important for our individual and community wellbeing. When viewed through the framework of DJS, we see that JOY is one part of our journey toward collective liberation. At the 2025 OTR we will share moments of JOY, explore the complexities of JOY, and build strategies for sustaining and imagining an abundance of JOY as an act of resistance.
OTR Agenda
Various Small Group OTR Trips
5:00pm OTR Dinner
7:00pm Optional Evening Activities
Small Group OTR Trips
Check out these awesome On The Road Trips! On The Road Trips are hosted by a staff-student team excited to connect in small groups. Students will rank their top 3 trips depending on their interests.
Experience the ideal September weather in Washington and move your body on this iconic hike! Live on the Ledge will take us to North Bend to hike Rattlesnake Ledge to feel the electric energy of the North Cascade Mountains.
We’ll leave campus and drive about an hour inland from the Puget Sound to the trailhead. The hike is 5.3 miles long and features breathtaking views of Mt. Si and Mt. Washington. It’s a hike that may challenge you if you are less experienced, but remains manageable and well-worth the trip for beginners and avid hikers alike!
The trail will offer time to consider (aloud or silently) how we can nourish our roots in the way that this natural environment continues to sustain all of the life that it fosters. The hike also provides a fun way to root yourself in the PLU community and meet new people from across campus!
This is a partnership with Outdoor Recreation
Accessibility: We will be taking vans to our trailhead. The hike is 5.3 miles with 1,160 feet elevation gain. We’ll provide a picnic lunch on the trail, but please bring your own water bottle, extra layer and daypack.
Birding (also known as bird watching or bird noticing) can be an act of joyful resistance! Birding sparks joy because it is fun: Birding is playful, engages us in flow states, and connects us with others (Price, 2021). Birding allows you to mindfully immerse yourself in nature by connecting with our bird relations and the local ecologies that we share with them, which can spark critical curiosity related to ecological and social justice issues and opportunities that affect us all (Odell, 2019). This OTR experience will allow you to: move your body; be in nature; connect with other people, animals, plants, and ecosystems; engage in reflective creative activities; and learn about future service opportunities.
Accessibility Note: We will be taking vans to our locations and will be walking in parks for short distances. Lunch and snacks will be provided and encourage you to bring a daypack and water bottle.
We will start our day with a brunch at a local Parkland favorite and then connect with a community leader to build our own plant terrarium to take home.
Accessibility Notes: We will be taking the bus for this event and walking short distances. Brunch, snacks, and plant supplies are provided.
Join us on a trip to the Seattle Waterfront for their Salmon Homecoming event. We will watch the landing and honoring of the Coast Salish canoe families, have lunch, and enjoy the new waterfront space.
Accessibility Note: We will be taking vans to Seattle and walking short distances to participate in the event. Lunch and snacks are provided.
Past On The Road Trips
OTR 2024: Nourishing Our Roots
The ability of a plant to survive and thrive depends on the strength of its roots. When a plant’s roots are nourished they help anchor them in place, absorb and store nutrients for growth, and connect them to other organisms in their ecosystem. At PLU we recognize wellbeing is holistic and multidimensional. When viewed through the framework of DJS we see that our wellbeing is interconnected with each other and our environments. At the start of the 2024-2025 school year we have the opportunity to ROOT ourselves in community and explore ways to build continuous NOURISHMENT that will allow us to support and hold each other accountable for meeting our individual and collective goals, now and into the future.
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