Frosh Trip Leader Application 2024

Thank you for applying to be a part of the 2024 Orientation Team.

OA Frosh Trip Leaders play a tremendous role in welcoming incoming students to Princeton and introducing first-year & transfer students to our shared values and traditions.

Types of Trips: 

All trips will continue to follow the tried-and-true OA formula of groups spending time outdoors overcoming challenges and building relationships. The primary activity for most trips will be hiking, but that will be broken up throughout the day with breaks, activities, and conversations with your group.  

Cabin-based or Base Camp Trips

We are planning for the majority of OA groups to be basecamp trips this year. Hiking Basecamp trips will stay at group campsites in the middle of a state park, similar to the LTTs in Harriman and the Delaware Water Gap.  Each day, you will head out for a new adventure, doing day hikes through the park, only carrying a light backpack (water, lunch, etc.). You may also spend a day canoeing/kayaking on a lake near the campground. We’re really excited about these trip options because you get the joy of being fully immersed in the outdoors and with a more relaxed dailyy schedule. Basecamp groups will sleep under tents or tarps at their assigned campgrounds and do all of the group cooking over stoves. There will be toilets, running water, and some may have shower facilities.  

Backcountry Trips

We plan to have a backcountry trips in the regions whose regulations allow for our larger group size. Trips may be backpacking (with a full backpacking backpack) in a state park or canoeing on the flatwater section of the Delaware River. Each day, the group will travel to a new campsite, transporting all of their belongings with them. Backcountry trips will sleep under a tarps or in tents and do all of their cooking outdoors as a group at the campsite. 

Campus-based Local Day Trips

There will be a small number of trips that will be local day trips in the Princeton area. Taking the “best of the best” from previous Frosh Trips, our updated local trips will explore the outdoor spaces that got the best reviews from Leaders and Participants last year. This will be a truly multidisciplinary experience—hiking, yoga, canoeing, climbing, biking, etc. For these trips, you will sleep on campus each night. Breakfast and dinner will be in the dining halls with lunches out on the trail. 


Frosh Trip Dates 2024

Orientation for the Class of 2028 will begin on Friday, August 23 and continue through Monday, September 2. The small-group experiences will kick-off this year on Wednesday, August 28 through Saturday, August 31. Classes begin on Tuesday, September 3. 

  • Tuesday, August 20: Early Leader Move-in for people coming from far away
  • Wednesday, August 21: Leader Move-in all day, OA Check-in at 5:00 PM
  • Thursday, August 22 - Tuesday, August 27: Pre-Trip
  • Wednesday, August 28 - Saturday, August 31: TRIPS!

More information on move-in logistics will be forthcoming.


Leader Eligibility

Core components of training expected for all (completed by end of Spring Semester):

  • Leadership Workshop Series (101 & 102)
  • Outdoor Technical Skills Workshop
  • Managing Safety Workshop
  • Wilderness First Aid & CPR
  • Leader Training Trip

Spring Leader Training

It is not too late to begin Leader Training! All courses are being offered over spring break or in April--registration is available at My.Princeton.edu.


Apply Online Now

Here are the Essay Questions that are part of the application. We recommend that you write them all first and then cut and paste them into your application. Returning Leaders do not need to write essays.

  • What do you see as the Orientation goals for Frosh Trip? (200 - 300 words)
  • Why do you feel that you will be a good role model for freshmen? (200 - 300 words)
  • Briefly describe yourself to help us match you with the right co-leader (100 - 200 words)

Leader Applications are now closed