The Outdoor Foundation
The 2015 Outdoor Nation Campus Challenge was a Huge
Success with 100,000 Outdoor Activities Logged by 20,000
Participating Individuals
By: The Outdoor Foundation
Competition in the 2015 Outdoor Nation Campus
Challenge, presented by REI and The North Face,
ended October 17th with Southern Utah University
winning the title of National Outdoor Champion. The
school’s student body and surrounding community
logged more than 20,000 outdoor activities with
2,500 people participating. In total, 57 colleges and
universities across the country logged 100,000 outdoor activities with nearly 20,000 people participating
in the six-week challenge. This year’s competition
capitalized on school spirit and peer-to-peer activation to reach new audiences and reinforce a healthy
lifestyle message at an age when many students are
forming the habits, values and brand allegiances they
will carry the rest of their lives. Over the Challenge
period, schools leveraged the assets and infrastructure of college campuses with the ideas, energy and
ingenuity of college students to engage new audiences in the outdoors. Individuals were encouraged to
get outside through a gameified format that featured
prizes from presenting partners and other weekly
sponsors including Adidas, Chaco, Osprey, and
Coleman among others.
Think Mother Nature Meets March Madness.
Through contests, prizes and good ‘ole fashion rivalry, universities provided incentives to their student
bodies and larger communities. REI and The North
Face provided a gear bank to the winning school,
Southern Utah
University. Kyle
M., the student
from SUU who
was named Outsider of the Year,
was fully outfitted
by The North
Face.
The challenge
started in 2014
due to the fact that today’s young people spend 50
percent less time outdoors than the generation that
preceded them — contributing to a global inactivity
pandemic as well as a major gap in environmental
appreciation and stewardship. In the pilot year, ten
schools competed over an eight-week period — planning school-wide activities, promoting individual participation and, in many cases, introducing new outdoor activities to spark initial interest.
The premise of
the Outdoor Nation Campus
Challenge is simple; colleges and
universities compete "head-tohead" to determine which
school can get
the most people
To measure impact and engagement, Outdoor Nation conducted a survey of Challenge participants as
part of a rigorous evaluation process to understand
and analyze results. Within a few hours, hundreds of
people responded with overwhelmingly positive feedback. The message? A strong endorsement of the
initiative as an effective way to increase outdoor participation, raise awareness of outdoor opportunities
and engage new audiences.
outside and active.
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