Unofficially I’ve heard that Allen Island COOT is the best COOT!
Interim Director of Outdoor Education and Leadership SJ Tinker on Allen Island COOT
COOT’s back! After a year long haitus due to Covid-19, the members of the class of 2025 were able to participate in the yearly welcoming tradition, COOT from Sept 3rd to Sept 5th. For those who don’t know, COOT is the Colby Outdoor Orientation Trips, which are trips led by upper classmen for freshman in their first week of school to help them acclimate to the culture of Colby and form a community from the get go. For the class of 2025, one of the COOT options was going to Allen Island.
In addition to stellar views camping by the sea, the freshman explored the island, went on sea kayak voyages to explore the local ecology and participated in a beach cleanup. The beach cleanup is the start of a future study where we map out the amount of debris that ends up on the beaches after a year’s time, allowing us to measure the rate of change of debris on the beach.
Coming back from COOT, the freshman had formed a bond that nowhere but an island could have formed.