Even after students head home for summer, campus keeps buzzing

If you aren't here to see it, you might think that FLC in the summer is as quiet as the wilderness that surrounds Durango. But that's far from the reality.

On top of summer semester classes, in the months between Spring Commencement in May and Fall Convocation in August our mountain campus bustles with activity from the many groups that visit and stay here to take advantage of the opportunities and resources campus and southwest Colorado offer.

In fact, between May and August, nearly a hundred groups and organizations will be spending time on campus, bringing in about $815,000 in conference revenue.

"Over the course of the summer, we'll see roughly 7,000 guests, who visit for things such as weaving workshops, sports camps, medical seminars, leadership conferences, church camps, geology field schools, and more. Participants range in ages from 8 to 80," says Hilary Brenneman, assistant director for conferences with Student Housing & Conference Services.

Campus also draws many visitors who aren't staying at FLC but instead see campus as a unique and beautiful Colorado attraction. On top of what Durango offers, tourists who come up onto the Rim find trails to walk or bike, public art to enjoy, disc golf to play, concerts to see, lectures to hear, and – of course – magnificent views over the Animas Valley and La Plata and San Juan mountain ranges to take in.

And all those people taking over FLC's mesa-top home not only get to grow, learn, play, explore, and see some nice sights – they also boost the Durango and regional economy, and discover a part of the country they may have previously known little about.

"It provides other institutions who host their field camps here, such as Colorado School of Mines, Bowling Green University, and Florida Atlantic University, with exposure to us," adds Brenneman. "Additionally, many places in town, such as the raft companies, benefit when the groups have rec time and choose to visit off campus for entertainment."

And, maybe, some of those visitors will even find where they want to go to college.