Student Life 2023

Managing Editor

Leah Call

Design Manager

Lucas Davis

Advertising

Monique Black

Tylin Ritchie

Sophie Baker-Bunch

Reporters

Maren Archibald

Savannah Burnard

Avery Truman

Madison Weber

Designers

Abigail Fillmore

Scott Hayes

Derrick Hawley

Jake Stott

Photographers

Elise Gottling

Paige Johnson

Claire Ott

Kate Smith

Sam Warner

Phil Weber

Emily White

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY NOTICE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION

In its programs and activities, including in admissions and employment, Utah State University does not discriminate or tolerate discrimination, including harassment, based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by University policy, Title IX, or any other federal, state, or local law.

Utah State University is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate or tolerate discrimination including harassment in employment including in hiring, promotion, transfer, or termination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by University policy or any other federal, state, or local law.

Utah State University does not discriminate in its housing o erings and will treat all persons fairly and equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex, familial status, disability, national origin, source of income, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Additionally, the University endeavors to provide reasonable accommodations when necessary and to ensure equal access to qualified persons with disabilities.

The following individuals have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the application of Title IX and its implementing regulations and/or USU’s non-discrimination policies:

Matthew Pinner Executive Director of the O ce of Equity matthew.pinner@usu.edu

435.797.1266 | Distance Education Rm. 401

5100 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322

C Cody Carmichael Title IX Coordinator cody.carmichael@usu.edu

435.797.1266 | Distance Education Rm. 404 5100 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322

Denver Regional O ce

303.844.5695

OCR.Denver@ed.gov

800.421.3481

OCR@ed.gov

For further information regarding non-discrimination, please visit equity.usu.edu, or contact: titleix@usu.edu

Welcome Aggies!

Enjoy the arts at USU!

@cainecollege

Caine College of the Arts

Convocation

with Gabriela Lena Frank

Artist-in-Residence

Gabriela Lena Frank

Born in Berkeley to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Frank explores her multicultural heritage through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Bela Bartók and Alberto Ginastera, Frank is something of a musical anthropologist. She has traveled extensively throughout South America and her pieces reflect and refract her studies of Latin American folklore. She writes challenging idiomatic parts for solo instrumentalists, vocalists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras.

November 1 | 5 PM | Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall

Free and open to all students

Loving life in Logan

Leah Call

“Show me the Scotsman who doesn’t love the thistle, show me an Englishman who doesn’t love the rose, show me a true-blooded Aggie from Utah, who doesn’t love the spot where the sagebrush grows...”

Being an Aggie means knowing every word to the school song and singing it loud and proud at every event, no matter how off-key. Being an Aggie means finding a special someone to kiss on True Aggie Night- the potential and general nerves suspended over the entirety of the Quad as people scout, gather their courage and finally ask someone to join them in the line. Being an Aggie means being stopped for Aggie Ice Cream on your way to the Spectrum for a basketball game. It means being as involved and connected as you can be.

In short, being an Aggie means more than paying tuition and having an A-number. As an incoming student, it can be intimidating to find the communities that suit you best. Utah State and the Logan community has so much to offer and it would do you best to take advantage of all of the ways to get involved, no matter where your interests lie.

There are abundant opportunities for involvement and among them is the many clubs offered on campus

From the USU involvement page it reads, “with nearly 100 USUSA clubs on campus at any given time, these clubs organize thousands of events for Utah State University students each year, providing service, involvement, and academic opportunities to students across campus.”

To find more information on a club at USU visit usu.edu/involvement/clubs

If you are involved in any religious organizations, USU offers many religion-based clubs to join and explore as well.

Utah State University Student Association, or USUSA, offers many activities and events throughout the year including the Howl, Mardi Gras and End of Year Bash. There are opportunities to volunteer and get involved throughout the whole semester including college weeks that highlight the various colleges and their own events on campus.

USU offers student job opportunities as well and can be a great way of making a little extra money, as well as some new friends. There are many departments looking for student employees and the USU Handshake app is the place to start looking.

You can’t call yourself a USU student if you haven’t ‘cleaned the sink’ at the popular local diner, Angie’s. The ‘kitchen sink’ is a literal kitchen sink filled with copious amounts of ice cream. So grab a few friends and a booth at Angie’s to see if you can complete the kitchen sink challenge. Another great place to try is Tandoori Oven near the Spectrum. Authentic Indian food is hard to find and their naan bread is insane.

Logan is also notorious for its brunch spots so make sure to stop by Herm’s Inn at some point. Homestyle breakfasts and limitless hot chocolate is the name of the game at Herm’s. Other great brunch places include Stacked, The Crepery and Crumb Brothers Bakery.

An aspect of Utah State that can’t be ignored is the athletic events and opportunities.

My recommendation when it comes to USU athletics is to attend sporting events outside of football and basketball. While those are a lot of fun and give an urgent sense of school spirit, it’s eye-opening to see the other teams on campus representing the university and they deserve fans in the stands with blue and white face stickers cheering for them. If you’re interested in playing a sport yourself, check out what’s offered at usu.edu/campusrec/competitive-sports/ intramurals.

The Aggie Recreation Center, or ARC, is a place to get in touch with your more active side. You can go with friends or by yourself and for $35 a semester, you can become a member and enjoy the countless classes offered from weight-lifting, to spin cycling, to yoga. I did it with some friends and not only did we have a great time together, we got really buff.

I can’t talk about downtown Logan without mentioning Federal Avenue. Federal Avenue features many frequented spots by students including WhySound and Caffe Ibis. WhySound, a local music venuebursting with local talent and many gigs are performed by USU students themselves.

Every Saturday from May until October, the downtown area is a place where creativity and local businesses unite to create the Cache Valley Gardener’s Market. The market features local food vendors, art and home goods for an authentic Logan experience and live music filters through the air as visitors peruse the booths.

Another way to get involved is to volunteer. The university offers many great opportunities to volunteer and serve as well as the Logan community as a whole. The Family Place, CAPSA and Stokes Nature Center are only three of the countless opportunities to volunteer and contribute to the community in a meaningful way.

On any given day Logan is teeming with activity. The key is finding it.

Applied Sciences, Technology and Education

Transforming Education Into Real-World Impact

Agricultural Communication (BS) — Be part of the high-demand agricultural communication industry. Gain foundational knowledge in various agricultural disciplines complemented by training in video production, photography, graphic design, website design, marketing, sales, and agricultural communication.

Agricultural Education (BS) — Join a program that offers a pathway to teacher certification in schoolbased settings as well as training for community-based agricultural education careers. Specialize in school-based agricultural education or community-based agricultural education.

Agricultural Systems Technology (BS) — Merge agricultural, biological, and physical sciences with technical and business managerial skills in our unique program. Specialize in agribusiness, agricultural mechanization, or farm and ranch operations.

Technology and Engineering

Education (BS) — This program develops future middle and high school teachers, specializing in fields like manufacturing, automation, and robotics.The degree includes a licensure component that leads to robust career opportunities and readiness for advanced studies.

Business Education (7th-12th Grade Teaching License) — Equip yourself with the fundamentals of business and the skills to teach these principles to the younger generation.

Family and Consumer Sciences

Education (BS) — Train to become a family and consumer sciences teacher in middle and high schools, covering diverse subject areas including apparel and textile construction, nutrition and foods, interior design, child and human development, and financial literacy.

The Many Mental Health Resources at USU

Avery Truman

Whether new college students are living on their own for the first time, or just struggling to deal with coursework, Utah State University has many mental health resources for students to turn to for help.

Karma Black, the assistant director of the Disability Resource Center said, “We support students who have a physical or mental health disability that significantly limits any kind of a university activity or class, or experience so that everybody has equal access,” in a virtual interview.

The DRC provides a confidential setting for students to talk with employees who can determine what accommodations the university can offer for each specific situation.

“Accommodations are not retroactive,” Black said. “They do not compromise the integrity of the course. We don’t want to fundamentally alter any essential elements of the course or an activity.”

According to Black, accommodations can be architectural, attitudinal or related to university programs.

“We kind of need to normalize a little bit of stress that college students face because college experiences can be very enjoyable, but they can also be uncomfortable, and that’s okay,” she said. “That means we’re growing.”

Black said that once these stresses become unmanageable is when it can be beneficial to visit the DRC.

“We also promote just, healthy eating, sleeping and exercise habits.”

Black also recommended students who are struggling with food insecurity reach out to the Student Nutrition Access Center. SNAC provides nutritious food to Aggies in need while also educating them about the importance of a balanced diet.

“If you are starting to feel stuck, seek out help,” Black said. “There’s a lot of people on our campus in this Aggie family that are willing to help you and direct you to get support. You don’t have to do this alone. There are way too many people on our campus to do something alone.”

According to Black, if students are struggling with mental health, reaching out to the DRC is a good place to start.

Whitney Howard is a victim advocate for The Sexual Assault & Anti-Violence Information Office, which provides safe counseling and advocacy for students and faculty.

“If somebody has been harmed by another individual then we have some resources to give them emotional support, talk them through their reporting options and also connect them to any other resources that they need in the community,” Howard said in a virtual interview.

According to Howard, there is an important distinction between SAAVI advocates and therapists.

“Think about it like a Venn Diagram. Where we overlap is therapists and advocates can help with psychoeducation, skill building, coping skills, emotional support, active listening and validation,” she said. “Where we differ is therapists help process past trauma and advocates can help provide the tools and support and information moving forward.”

One of SAAVI’s roles is to connect students with other resources on campus and find a therapist.

“I think that human connection is a need of ours,” Howard said. “And so that can be really healing and helpful even just to be able to be vulnerable with another person.”

Howard said that talking to people about mental health struggles can be very beneficial.

“Whether that first person you talk to is a friend or a family member, a loved one, or it could be an advocate, a therapist, a medical professionalmental health professional,” Howard said. “I don’t think that there’s any shame in reaching out to those because they are there to help people navigate and basically not have to go through that burden alone.”

Howard said that with the busy schedules of college students, self-care can be one of the first things to go.

“We have an obligation to ourselves to take care of ourselves because at the end of the day, there’s only one you, and that you deserves to be taken care of,” Howard said. “If you’re able to take care of yourself and get the support that you need, then you’re better able to sustain those commitments that you have.”

Howard said that college can become difficult for freshmen who are away from home for the first time, but there are people available to help.

“Here at USU and in our Aggie family, both peers, as well as professionals in the mental health industry, are there to help them navigate those situations,” Howard said. “It’s okay to reach out and ask for help if they need it.”

Amanda Willett is a licensed clinical social worker for the Counseling and Psychological Services at USU. CAPS provides clinical and crisis consultations, counseling, wellness workshops, psycho-educational evaluations, peer coaching and online self-help resources.

Better the World by Making LAEP Your Home

If you’re interested in the environment and sustainability and want to make positive changes in the world and your local community, consider making LAEP your home and pursuing a degree in Environmental Planning. Use science and creativity to solve problems and implement policy that protects plant, animal, and human life. Learn to understand environmental systems and how to turn policy into action that helps mitigate human demands on them.

Advanced Education and Specialization

Graduate Degrees Designed to Propel Your Career

Career and Technical Education (MEd) — This 100% online professional degree program serves practicing educators and those aspiring to enter the profession. This program equips graduates with the skills to become teachers and educational leaders in career and technical education administration.

Agricultural Extension and Education (MS) — Specialize in teaching, Extension/informal education, and adult education. Rather than leading to a teaching license for public schools, students develop instructional and program planning skills and proficiency in research methods and statistical applications.

Family and Consumer Sciences

Education and Extension (MS) — Expand your academic preparation in the areas of family studies, housing, textiles and clothing, nutrition and food sciences, and personal resource management. This program emphasizes teaching, curriculum/program development, and Extension.

Technology and Engineering

Education (MS) — Complete a professional core of courses in technology and engineering education and career and technical education. Graduates will gain skills in instruction, program planning, evaluation, research methods, and statistical applications.

Career and Technical Education (PhD) — Welcome to our diverse community of students seeking to improve education. Our PhD program prepares candidates for academic careers in formal and nonformal settings that demand research expertise and theoretical foundations understanding.

The MS degree programs are available for online completion, supplemented by scheduled virtual or face-toface meetings with faculty. These programs are highly recommended for individuals interested in education, Extension, or careers that involve teaching and research or for those aspiring to obtain a PhD.

Advice from your representatives

Savannah Burnard

With a new school year starting, Utah State Student Association officers reflected on their experiences as first year students and gave advice to incoming students.

Tyson Packer, student advocate vice president of USUSA said when he started his first year at USU he didn’t know anybody besides one person from high school.

“I didn’t have a hard time just going to things and talking to my roommates,” Packer said. “I would say at Utah State it’s pretty easy to meet people. If you just walk up and say hi, nine times out of ten people are like ‘How’s it going? What’s your name? What are you up to?’”

Abraham Rodriguez, USUSA president, said his first few weeks of college at USU were confusing and that he forgot everything he was exposed to in the summer. He said by the time he found out about different organizations and groups he could apply to, the deadline had already passed, and the ones he applied to he didn’t get a position.

However, Rodriguez said what helped him with feelings of discouragement and confusion was being able to have a conversation with a close friend.

Rodriguez said he understands it isn’t easy for some students to introduce themselves to somebody or strike up a conversation, but he said having a good mindset has helped him.

“If you just have the right attitude, and you just give it your all, that’s all that matters, and that has given me the courage to go after what seemed to be intimidating or challenging,” Rodriguez said.

Emily Smilanich, Logan vice president of USUSA, said her freshman year at USU was hard because it was during the pandemic, so she wasn’t able to involve herself as much as she wanted.

“I feel like my freshman and sophomore year, I was happy to be in college, but I wasn’t super thrilled,” Smilanich said. “Then the second I started going to things and getting involved, my experience has been so enhanced by that.”

Smilanich said Day on the Quad is a good place to start for students who might be scared or just don’t know how to start getting involved with others at school.

“Start small, you don’t need to run for a position immediately to consider yourself involved,” she said. I think you can start by finding your niche group and finding what you want to do and something that interests you.”

Over email, Alex Garces, the executive director of diversity and organizations of USUSA, recommended going to Google and searching for a list of USU clubs and organizations. He said from there students will be able to see an extensive list of groups that can be joined on campus.

Besides joining clubs and other organizations on campus, Aly Cinq-Mars, the executive vice president of USUSA said some of her favorite ways to get involved at USU are going to football, basketball and hockey games.

Cinq-Mars said when it comes to studying, her favorite place to go is the third floor of the engineering building because there are a lot of windows and a variety of people studying.

“It’s a good study space and yet still allows you to be social and you’re not just cooped up in a little apartment or an office space” Cinq-Mars said. Garces said he can’t pick a favorite event at USU to participate in, but that he loves the accessibility of being able to choose from multiple options.

“There is always something going on so it’s fun to try out different events to break up the routine of school,” Garces said.

Even though Garces doesn’t have a favorite activity, he said he loves going to Morty’s Cafe with friends, and studying in the LatinX Cultural Center on the second floor of the Taggart Student Center.

Smilanich said her favorite events at USU have been High Stakes Bingo and tailgates for football games, but that overall activities during weeks of welcome are the best of the year.

“I highly suggest that freshmen go to all of the activities during weeks of welcome because they’re so fun and such a great way to network and meet people,” Smilanich said.

For Rodriguez, something he loves doing on campus is going to Aggie Ice Cream and indulging in his favorite flavor, salted caramel.

“It also goes with any mood too,” Rodriguez said. “Like whether you’re happy or sad, or you’re just in a mood. There’s nothing better than a nice little scoop of ice cream.”

While attending events and participating in various organizations can be considered an important social aspect of college life at USU, Packer said another important part of college life is having resources available to help students to help with problems in their academic and personal lives.

“I think it’s important that freshmen know, no matter what problem that they have, as a student at Utah State, there are resources for them,” Packer said. “Whether it’s problems with a landlord, whether it’s mental health problems, stress, car problems, or financial problems. There are so many resources available to students but just a lot of times they don’t know about it.” Cinq-Mars said as a first-year student she was terrified to ask for help.

“I think that I would have done a lot better as a freshman had I known all the resources that I had, and utilized them because now I literally ask for help all the time, and it just makes life so much easier,” Cinq-Mars said. “I don’t feel like I’m banging my head against the wall for hours on end.”

Rodriguez said realizing that he couldn’t do everything on his own and talking to people has really helped him in his college career.

“I was able to meet the most wonderful people that got me connected to opportunities and that’s the key if you want to get anywhere in life,” Rodriguez said. “You can only go so far on your own, but with other people, the sky’s the limit.”

Whether it be within a campus club, or at a student event, with friends, or with strangers, Garces said to him being an Aggie means creating unforgettable memories.

“There is something special about being an Aggie and it’s hard to describe until you are fully immersed in the unique Aggie culture cultivated at Utah State,” Garces said.

A list of events can be found at usu.edu/calendar, and student resources can be found at usu.edu/ online/student-resources. For more information go to usu.edu/involvement.

Be an Upstander

“Upstanding”is a bystander intervention approach for the prevention of harmful situations, like sexual misconduct, drug and alcohol misuse, bias and discrimination, depression or suicidal thoughts, and interpersonal violence.

An Upstander

is a person who stands up to prevent harm to another.

Direct

Address the situation in the moment. Say or do something.

Distract

Interrupt the situation by causing a distraction. Change the subject of the conversation.

Delegate

Ask for help. Recruit friends to help remove someone from a situation.

Delay

Address the situation after it has happened. Talk to someone about their behavior later or report an incident to the university.

Report, Seek Support, and Access Resources

• The O ce of Equity provides education and training to the campus community, and support and resources (including a grievance process) to those impacted by sexual misconduct and discrimination.

• You can report incidents of sexual misconduct (sexual harassment, sexual assault, relationship violence, and sex-based stalking) and discrimination at equity.usu.edu/report, 435.797.1266, or at Distance Education Room 404. The O ce of Equity can provide information about resources, supportive measures (e.g. academic accommodations, safety measures, etc.), reporting options, and filing a formal complaint.

• More information is available at equity.usu.edu and sexualrespect.usu.edu

Connecting beyond Connections

Maren Archibald

Do you remember what you ate for breakfast this morning? Me neither. How about what you wore last Tuesday? Ehh. The classes you signed up for in April? Probably a toss-up, but hopefully you’re registered for Connections (if not, go do it right now.) It’s a special USU class that takes place in the few days before the fall semester starts, and it’s a one-stop shop for an introduction to campus and beautiful Logan. But the purpose of this article is not to extol the benefits of Connections, although there are many. I’m writing to remind you that while Connections is, obviously, a great way to connect to your college experience, it shouldn’t be your only plan to get adjusted. I started college three years ago, so I’m here to impart some sage advice from my eons of experience or something like that.

First of all, get active in your program, or even just in a class. One of the biggest advantages of attending USU is not just the opportunity to study in a high quality program, but also to connect with people through it. Utah State is big enough to be cool but not so big that it’s soulless, so take advantage of that happy medium and get to know your professors. They might be weird, but usually it’s in a fun way, and they are a great resource for internships, research opportunities, book recommendations, and even outfit inspiration. Take the time to meet with them in office hours or thank them for lectures — even if you’re in a large class, you can still build a meaningful relationship.

If you’ve already declared a major, get involved with your college. Subscribe to the newsletter, follow the Instagram page, check the bulletin board — dive right in. As you get further into your major, you’ll start to take classes with the same group of people, so you may as well get to know them right off the bat. And if you’re an exploratory major, don’t fret. Take your time deciding, and keep an eye out for the different weeks this year: CHaSS Week, Engineering Week, etc. They’ll be full of activities that will introduce you to the college and various majors within it.

Second, choose to like things. The longer I’ve been in college, the more I’ve come to realize how malleable my tastes are. Obviously, there are some things I will love forever (e.g., Tandoori Oven and Holes), and some I am determined to hate forever (mushrooms and Transformers, to name a few), but there’s a whole lot of other things that fall somewhere in between (cherry tomatoes, Fast & Furious, etc). Tastes change with our environments, so as you transition out of high school routines, you might easily find yourself confused about what you actually like to eat, watch, read and do. Thankfully, you can just choose to like something new!

If you just rolled your eyes and thought, “I like what I like; it’s just the way I am,” allow me to change your mind. You don’t know what you like so much as you like what you know. Most of my likes, and probably yours, occupy a privileged position in our stacks of opinions because we are familiar with them. I prefer Wendy’s over McDonald’s, not because it is verifiably better, but because it’s where my family ate out when I was growing up. Familiarity means security, so we all gravitate towards things we are used to. But now is the time to consciously fight against that self-preserving tendency and branch out. College is designed to help expose you to new things so you can begin to like them.

Now, this isn’t to say you should become an anything goes, ambivalent doormat who likes everything and doesn’t have any opinions. By all means, take some stances, especially if they’re against mushrooms. But I don’t believe life would be full of quirky people, random hobbies, weird music, and bad reality TV if we weren’t meant to enjoy them, especially in the strange, fun, wildly transitory period of young adulthood that is college. Being elitist about your tastes is only fun for about a week, so get over that as quickly as you can and find something new and weird to like. Embrace fleeting interests — everything is a phase, Mom!

As you’re trying to make new friendships or strengthen existing ones, you are going to encounter someone else’s favorite thing, and you might hate it. But rather than shrug it off or reject it entirely, take some time to become more familiar with it. You might find that you can learn to like it, and if not, you’ll have spent time supporting someone you love, so there’s no loss either way. Caring about what other people care about will help you build connections that will last beyond your college years, and other than your degree and your True Aggie card, those connections are by far the most valuable thing you can hold on to from your time at Utah State.

Third, show up. And I don’t mean just to your lecture (you absolutely should, of course, but that’s just not the point of this point.) Point being: support people, and give them the chance to support you too. The times during the past three years I felt the most loved were when my friends showed up to something I was participating in. Whether you’re performing in a concert, playing in a game, or presenting at a conference, don’t be shy about letting people know. Even discussing your upcoming group project or test opens a door for someone to empathize with and support you. You can’t really be sad about no one coming to your birthday party if you don’t tell anyone it’s your birthday. Besides, it’s way more fun to celebrate that your new friends are watching beyond the stage lights than to lament about being lonely and living on your own.

Of course, this goes both ways. Ask your roommates what they’re up to that week, and when that girl who sits behind you in English tells you she likes to play soccer, make a point to ask her when her next game is. Commit to remembering birthdays; pay attention when someone mentions their job interview. Even if there’s no event you can physically show up to, following up after a test or picking up an extra treat at the store goes a long way towards building connections that will last.

It’s hard to connect with people who are closed books, so if you’re feeling lonely, take some time to evaluate how you may be closing yourself off, whether intentionally or not. Are there things in your life you could be more open about? Sharing personal information about yourself is a communication tactic called selfdisclosure, and it builds trust, especially when it’s reciprocated. Transitioning to college life is scary and vulnerable in a lot of different ways, so you’ll likely find it easier to close yourself off than reach outward. But remember: you’re not the only one feeling a bit out of your depth. As you open up to others, you’ll build connections that will sustain you through the rocky parts of this new stage.

As a final reminder: despite what the photo dumps on Instagram make you think, there is no first year friendship quota you need to fill. You don’t need to triple your LinkedIn connections or recognize every person you see in the TSC. You don’t need to be invited to parties every weekend, and you don’t have to host them either. Connections are not one-size-fits-all, so do your best to avoid measuring yourself up to a fictitious sense of normal. You’re right where you need to be, and you’re going to meet all the right people. I’ll even give you a freebie — I’m friends with anyone who reads my writing, so say hi anytime! Best of luck as you take Connections and make connections during your first year. I love Utah State, and I’m so excited for you to be an Aggie!

CONSENT IS SAME THING at the SAME TIME in the SAME WAY.

US U’s Exploratory Advisors

can help you find a major that fits with your strengths, interests and goals so you can enter a fulfilling career after you graduate.

Learn more about USU’s majors at:

Taking advantage of Logan’s adventurous outdoors

Madison Weber

If you’re attending Utah State University, there’s a good chance you are an outdoor lover. If not, Logan’s beautiful scenery and outdoor activities will convert you. From hiking to kayaking, and sports to food tours, Logan has it all when it comes to outdoor adventures.

The end of summer and the start of fall is the perfect time to see all of the beauty Logan offers. Take a look at our guide to the top 10 outdoor adventures. Here’s to embracing the Aggie spirit.

1. Utah State University Campus

Walking to class is its own outdoor experience as you admire the plants, flowers, sculptures and beauty of Utah State. Whether it’s taking a weekend walk or studying for an upcoming test, there is room for it all. The Quad is the center of campus. You can sunbathe on the grass or make new friends playing spikeball. It’s the perfect place to enjoy Carnival on the Quad or find a personal moment of peace as the semester begins.

2.Aggie Legacy Fields

Legacy Fields is the hub for all things sports. Clubs, intramurals or a group of Aggies can be found enjoying the turf. Located just north of campus, Legacy Fields provides students with over 190,000 square feet of playable surface. There, you’ll find USU club teams practicing or competing on Saturday mornings. The lights shining on the field make for the perfect latenight soccer game. Nearby, you can enjoy beach volleyball or outdoor basketball hoops. Not ready to commit to a club team? Intramurals are open to all USU students. Campus Recreation offers intramural leagues year-round. You can join a team or create your own.

3. Pickleball at Bridger Park

Pickleball has swept the nation as a favorite sport for all. In Logan, it’s just as popular. There are multiple places around Logan where you can find pickleball courts. The Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER) Building and The Picklr are some great options. But nothing quite compares to the courts at Bridger Park. Just a short drive from campus, you can play while watching the sunset over the mountains. The eight courts and a designated rotation rack ensure that you’ll get playing time.

4. Downtown

Downtown Logan is vibrant, lively and welcoming. Logan maintains its cute, small-town feel while still offering residents all they could need. There are endless food options from In-NOut to Angies, a local favorite. Take a walk down Center Street and you’ll find food, thrift stores, antique shops and the historic Utah Theatre. Just down the street, you can enjoy the Cache Valley Gardeners’ Market. The market is open every Saturday, May 13 – Oct 21, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. You’ll enjoy live music, fresh produce, local vendors and so many food stands you won’t be able to choose just one. Trust me on this one, get the breakfast burrito and lemonade. You’ll find yourself coming back every Saturday.

5. Campus Rec Rentals

USU Campus Recreation is the one-stop shop for all your outdoor needs. The Aggie Recreation Center (ARC), HPER Building and Fieldhouse are great spaces for students to exercise and play sports. But with a view as great as ours, we want to take advantage of the warmer months. Campus Rec has equipment for camping such as tents, sleeping bags, trekking poles, cook sets and more. If you need it, they have it.

Once you’re packed and prepared, you can rent your adventure equipment. Kayaks, paddle boards, tubes, canoes, wet suits, slacklines and bike racks. Once winter arrives, they even have all your equipment for snowboarding and skiing. Current students receive a 35% discount on all rental rates and for an additional fee, they’ll even deliver it in the canyon for you.

6. Logan Canyon Scenic Drive

Once you have your gear from Campus Rec, you’re ready to head up the canyon. Logan Canyon offers camping, hiking, biking, horseback riding and all other outdoor activities. The canyon is the entrance to many of the beautiful wonders that Cache Valley offers. One of the most beautiful parts is the drive itself. The surrounding mountains, towering trees and the river flowing alongside you. While adventure always awaits, sometimes a scenic drive is the best way to destress from all the semester entails.

7. Tony Grove

Tony Grove is hidden between the evergreens in the middle of Logan Canyon. The uphill drive gives you a unique view of Logan Canyon from your car. Once you drive to the lake, you can hike, walk, kayak, picnic or take photos of the scenery. The lake is located in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and has the best wildflower fields around. You can walk along the trail around the lake or hike the White Pine Lake trail. The Tony Grove Campground has 36 camping sites and is pet friendly. Tony Grove is also stocked with rainbow trout each year. It’s a great stop for the weekend or just a Sunday afternoon.

8. Bear Lake

Bear Lake isn’t nicknamed “the Caribbean of the Rockies,” for nothing. This natural freshwater lake on the Idaho-Utah border is a true paradise, tucked away in the mountains. The 109-squaremile lake is divided equally between Utah and Idaho and is the second-largest freshwater lake in Utah.

A short one-hour drive through the canyon will take you to the hidden oasis where you can go boating, kayaking, swimming, paddleboarding or even take a nap on the beach. The water may not feel as warm as in the Caribbean, but the crystal blue water will almost make you feel as if you were there. Garden City, home of Bear Lake, is the perfect host for your weekend getaway. Local shops, an escape room, family-owned restaurants and rentals around the lake are just a few of the amenities to enjoy. Just don’t forget to grab a Garden City famous raspberry shake (or two).

9. Hiking Trails

What better way to see Cache Valley than from the top of the giant mountains? Whether you’re on a solo adventure, hiking with friends or going on a family walk, there is a trail for you. Grab some good shoes, water, sunscreen and a snack and you’re ready to start exploring the Cache Valley mountains. One of the best resources for finding a good hike is logancanyonhiking.com. Instead of wandering off on one of the many trails through the trees, take a minute to look at the map and rely on what others have deemed as the best hikes in the area.

Wind Cave Trail: 4.0 miles, estimated 2h 18m.

Crimson Trail: 4.7 miles, estimated 2h 46m.

White Pine Lake Trail: 7.7 miles, estimated 3h 39m

Limber Pine Trail: 1.3 miles, estimated 33m

Highline Trail: 3.4 miles, estimated 1h 19m

10. First and Second Dam

After all the adventuring you’ve done, you can head to First or Second Dam for a picnic or a fire with friends. First Dam is a five-minute drive from campus at the mouth of the canyon. There is a grass area, a bowery with tables and trees for laying in the shade.

Second Dam is just a short distance from the first, further into the canyon. There are plenty of trees, tables in the shade, fire pits for roasting and space for everyone to enjoy. You can enjoy a lunchtime picnic or roasting smores at night. While most people don’t swim in the water, it’s great for fishing and watching the ducks swim by.

Student Involvement & Leadership Center usu.edu/involvement

Veterans Resource Office veterans.usu.edu

Seeing Logan: From the outside looking in

Leah Call

The nerves run through your body. You are a live wire of worry, anxiety and tension. And yet, you are excited. You know there are new experiences and an entirely new community waiting for you.

Being an out-of-state college student is a unique experience that many students have and yet feels strangely isolating at times. Essentially, it’s jumping from one state to another with nothing but a few suitcases and a laundry list of dorm items to purchase.

I am from Alaska, and while I love Utah and have found an amazing community for myself, it was intimidating to pack up and start somewhere unfamiliar. The first few days being here I struggled to keep up with the conversations surrounding rock climbing(of which I know nothing about), the questions about which YSA ward I am in (an acronym I was not familiar with) and the parts of Logan I was not aware of yet. I grew up fishing and boating, not snowboarding and rock-climbing.

As of spring 2023, Utah State University is home to about 28,000 students. Only 4,166 are nonresidents.

I know that many students decide to go to college close to home, but where I am from, there is no option but to move away. I found myself a little jealous of students who drove home on the weekends to be with family. My family was on an island 1,801 miles away and seeing them required a plane ticket and just shy of a thousand dollars (yeesh). It was hard to know that my family’s life was continuing without me nearby. There were inside jokes, moments and memories that I had no context for. However, I knew this was the right choice for me and I decided to take advantage of all the new experiences available to me here in Logan.

There was an adjustment period, but I found my community. I found the people who will jump around with me at WhySound on Saturday nights and spend slow Sundays working or reading or talking at Caffe Ibis, coffee in hand.

I will say, it was hard not to feel lonely at the beginning. Especially being a transfer student from out of state, a lot of my peers had established themselves and found their little communities already. It was difficult to figure out where I fit within that. My biggest piece of advice is to get involved right off the bat. Get to know your roommates and people in your classes. Go to the Weeks of Welcome events put on by USUSA. Introduce yourself to as many people as you can.

Student Sophie Shipley is originally from Los Angeles. She is going into her senior year at USU and said it took a minute to acclimate to the new culture in Utah.

“I’ve never been the type to be super homesick but my freshman year was hard because I was figuring out so many new things and experiencing a new place and it was more because I missed things that were familiar to me because when you’re in college everything is changing,” Shipley said. “Your classes, your friends, the way you feel and so I think I was more homesick for steadiness. In L.A., there’s more diversity in beliefs, in ethnicity, and a lot of things pertaining to that but overall it was just a lot of newness here that added on to the newness of being a student and being at college for the first time.”

Bridget Ackeroyd just completed her second year at USU and is originally from Coventry, Connecticut. She said she had visited Logan previously but was not familiar with the town upon moving in.

why I’m here. My older sister is also attending USU so I had been out a couple times to visit her while she had been at college,” Ackeroyd said. “So I was, I wouldn’t say familiar but it wasn’t totally strange, moving out. That being said, I moved out when I was 17, like right after I graduated high school. That was wild, cause it was like literally 10 days after I graduated high school and then I was dropped off across the country.”

She said the cultures of the two states are vastly different.

“Culturally Utah is definitely really different than Connecticut and the East Coast. The culture is dominantly LDS which is very different than what my high school experience was,” she said. “And as somebody who is not LDS, it was weird to be in the minority. I had to be like ‘okay this is how things are around here.’”

She said the best part was the newfound freedom she had on her own.

“Like any college kid, I really loved getting out of the house and thinking, ‘oh my gosh I’m an adult now’. I could do whatever I wanted all the time and the standard college stuff of meeting roommates and having new friends,” she said. “The dating scene in college is obviously really fun, especially being from a really small town where that’s not really a thing at all.”

Ackeroyd explains the homesickness she felt by the end of her first year.

“Oh yeah, by the end of the spring semester I was itching to go home. Logan, Utah is definitely very different than Coventry, Connecticut and I just missed home. I had been away for a while. Making friends was definitely a little harder in my first year, I would say. I struggled making friends, for this, that and another reason, so I was definitely really, really homesick.”

Shipley’s advice is to get as involved in the community as possible.

“My advice to out-of-state Utah State students is to get involved. That has enriched my experience in ways that I can’t even describe. It also just helps to acclimate a little bit better,” Shipley said. “There are a lot of out of state people in my sorority and that helped me to not feel like I was the only one experiencing these feelings of hating winter or feeling like it wasn’t as diverse as I was used to. Other people were there to validate my experience as well as be a new support system. I had a lot of roommates who would go home on the weekends because it was an hour and a half away and I couldn’t do that so the people I found on campus kind of became that family for me.”

Remember that everyone is experiencing new things and meeting new people. It’s not just you.

STUDENT BELONGING IS OUR PRIORITY

DIVISION OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

usu.edu/inclusion

At USU, we prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion to ensure all students feel supported during their time here. We achieve this through inclusive environments and centers, events, and student support. Our programs include:

INCLUSION CENTER

usu.edu/inclusion

All are valued here, and involvement within the center’s clubs, organizations, and programs make USU even stronger.

LATINX CULTURAL CENTER

usu.edu/latinx

Serves as a conduit for empowered service, engagement, advocacy, and visibility for the Latinx community on campus and in the Cache Valley and surrounding areas.

DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTER

usu.edu/drc

Ensures students with disabilities can overcome barriers to fully participate in university programs, services, and activities, unlocking their professional and personal potential.

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SERVING UTAH FAMILIES FOR 40 YEARS SINCE 1981

SERVING UTAH FAMILIES FOR 40 YEARS SINCE 1981

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Whether you need a quiet spot to focus or a space to collaborate, we have you covered. Our upper levels o er stunning canyon views, while our lower levels feature thought-provoking exhibits. No wonder we're USU's favorite study spot!

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Laptops, iPads, webcams, graphing calculators, chargers, and more freely available for checkout

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