Student access to adventures just got easier at UF.
Students interested in participating in the Travel and Recreation Program will no longer have to wait in line to register for the excursions.
Online exclusive registration for TRiP programs will open Jan. 22 at 10 a.m.
Veronica Adorisio, a 19-year-old UF sustainability and business sophomore, went on TRiP’s excursion to Foster Falls, Tenn., last semester. Adorisio said to register for her trip to the falls she waited more than four hours in line while it rained.
“Now it’s more convenient. Everyone has a chance to sign up,” she said. “If you always had class on the registration time and day, then you were out of luck.”
Previously, students looking to register for TRiP waited in lines lasting more than three hours outside the Outfitter in the Reitz Union, said Jackie Matthews, a program coordinator for the TRiP Outfitter and Free Bike Repair.
“We wanted to make our registration more inclusive,” Matthews said. “There is a computer in the Outfitter for students’ convenience, if they want to pop in and sign up for TRiP.”
TRiP excursion manager Danielle Irwin, 21, said students can read about trips open for registration on the new webpage, studentinvolvement.ufl.edu/TRiP, which is part of the Student Activities and Involvement site.
Registration and payment for upcoming TRiP excursions will now be completed on the webpage, although registration is not available yet.
“It’s simpler to go online and do it right when you’re thinking about it,” said Irwin, a sustainability and the built environment senior.
She said students don’t have to worry about going to the Outfitter and running out of time to register.
Irwin added that although more students are expected to apply online, the number of spots available on trips will not increase.
A list of the 2014 trips and prices are listed on the group’s website. The dates for trips will be released following drop/add period, when the availability of TRiP leaders is finalized. Some of the excursions include paddling down Silver River, mountain biking in San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park and climbing Sand Rock in Alabama.
UF recreation, parks and tourism senior Destiny Kucko, a 21-year-old TRiP leader and education manager, said students can still come in and ask questions, but online registration will end some late nights for TRiP employees.
“We were there until 11:30 or midnight just because of the line,” Kucko said.
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/7/2014 under the headline "No more lines: TRiP registration now online"
