Article by Noah Grant. Photo by Kylie Schnarr.
As soon as the calendar flips to February, many students start looking ahead to spring break week. For some, this is the perfect chance to simply take a week off from the hustle of college life. For a few, however, they had the opportunity to take a trip of a lifetime.
The St. Cloud State Campus Recreation Department goes on an annual spring break trip to several national parks across the country. This year, 10 students and two staff members went to a record nine parks located across the southwestern United States over the course of just eight days.
“We actually spent a few days writing out our whole itinerary and planning everything out,” said Kylie Schnarrs, a Fitness and Wellness graduate assistant. “Making sure we stopped at all the parks we wanted to, and stopping at all the big stops, like Seven Magic Mountains is a big one. We also stopped at Big Boy, which is one of eight largest steam engines left in the world in Cheyenne, Wyoming.”
For Schnarrs, who is from near Buffalo, New York, the trip was the furthest west she had ever been. She enjoyed the driving through all the new states to visit the parks and see the wildlife, including buffalo, wild horses, coyotes, and prairie dogs.
Along with the memories of the trip, the experience also allowed students and staff alike to share their culture with each other.
“It was kind of cool, because they were all students from India. So we got to immerse and learn about their culture and learn some of their language,” Schnarrs said. “We also went to an Indian restaurant, and I got to try all their food. It was just cool to kind of immerse myself in their culture.”
This year’s adventure was a big success, and plans have already started for the 2026 edition.
“Our plan is actually to go down to the southeast at the Everglades,” Schnarr said. “There’s another national park down in Florida, there’s one in South Carolina, and the Smoky Mountains.”
Originally, this year’s trip was scheduled for the southeast, but concerns about hurricane damage led to a change of plans.
To learn more about Campus Recreation and events like this, visit their website at www.stcloudstate.edu/campusrec.
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