The Outdoor Adventure & Community Service (OACS) residential living community provides its members with experiential learning activities in a nontraditional setting. The outdoor adventure component is designed to develop interpersonal and leadership skills; the community service component is designed to instill responsibility and engage students in the community around them. The intended outcome is a more well-rounded, holistic student.

What are the benefits of joining OACS?

Companionship - OACS has a history of being a group of students who have established friendships that extend beyond the university’s boundaries. Because the majority of our members live with each other in the same community, they are not only acquaintances, but also friends, roommates, and even study partners.

Leadership & Teamwork Skills - Participation in OACS helps develop a student’s leadership and teamwork skills. OACS members are often placed in challenging situations that demand trust and mutual support of one another. In addition, OACS community members are asked to “take charge” by developing project ideas and/or taking the lead in the planning different events.

Participation in Challenging Activities - Imagine walking across a beam that is secured 100 feet above the ground, or paddling down a raging river with four of your friends in the boat with you. Or how about crawling through a dark, wet cave, or trekking through the snow-covered woods. Or perhaps you’re simply trying to start a campfire in the rain. These are some typical challenges that our members face while participating in OACS-sponsored activities.

The Outdoor Adventure component in OACS provides a meaningful way for students to engage in challenging, risk-taking, activities in a socially acceptable way. Although the perceived risk in many of these activities is high, the actual risk and danger is low. 

Community Involvement - As an OACS member, you will get involved in the campus and local community. You will help those who are less fortunate, and you will make the community in which you live a better place to be.

History

OACS was founded as a residential living community in the fall of 2004 by former director of housing & residence life Bryan Valentine, who had hoped to attract students who, among other things, were involved with the Boy & Girl Scouts during high school.

During the initial year, a group of 11 first-year students lived in the community, which was then located in the University Court. They took part in a variety of activities, ranging from camping and hiking trips to highway cleanups.  This was also the year that Pitt-Greensburg’s OACS began participating in the annual Habitat for Humanity “Collegiate Challenge” spring break trip to Florida. Habitat for Humanity is now a separate student organization at Pitt-Greensburg.

In the fall of 2006, the OACS community was moved to the first floor of Marshall House in the Academic Villages. Around this same time, OACS director Bryan Valentine left Pitt-Greensburg to pursue another position, and Brian Root, a newly-hired resident director at the time, took over the OACS director role.

The group was once again moved a year later in the fall of 2007 to Westmoreland Hall, where it is now located. Current accommodations allow for the group to house 16 residents (4 people to an apartment). During the 2006-07 school year, the members of OACS began allowing “non-residents” to apply for membership. This move allowed the group to expand to 20+ members in the fall of 2007 for the first time in its short history. Now, OACS is not only a residential living community, but also a certified student organization on campus.

The group’s funding comes from three sources – the Office of Housing & Residence Life, Student Government, and the members themselves, who each pay an annual $100 membership fee.