Have you ever wanted to get out of the city for a day and go to the outdoors? Drexel has a club focused on just that and we at Her Campus Drexel interviewed Matt West club president of Weekend Warriors, who loves getting into adventures.
Weekend Warriors is a club that runs all of Drexel’s outdoor trips. These trips include hiking, canoeing, deep-sea fishing, kayaking, white water rafting, water-skiing, horseback riding, paintballing, skiing, snowboarding, and many more! Last year they water skied on the Chesapeake Bay and are going back again this year. Their goal as a club is get as many students out of the city as possible in a given term.
The club was originally started by a group of fraternity brothers five years ago. The club’s other current presidents, Alex Nadolishny and Ian Riley, decided they wanted to expand the club two years go to the whole Drexel community and later recruited Matt. Since the expansion of the club they have made a Facebook and email list with over 1,000 people!
Matt is one of the 12 people managing this large group of participants. Through this position Matt said he has learned a lot of leadership skills. He has also learned a lot about the outdoors and management.
Of course being the president of any club comes with challenges. Matt said the hardest part of being president is managing the trip leaders. He said that getting everything together and finishing all the club’s tasks on time is the toughest part. Keeping up with deadlines is very important since the club manages such a large fan base.
Matt said that his favorite part of being president of Weekend Warriors is meeting new people, getting to see the friendships that form on the trips, getting to go outdoors, and seeing people branch out of their comfort zones. He loves seeing people giving outdoor activities that they have never tried before a chance and how much they end up loving it.
As for a little about Matt West himself, he is originally from Abington, PA. He has been an eagle scout his whole life. At Drexel, he is a pre-junior studying materials science. In his free time he enjoys snowboarding, volleyball, soccer, hanging out with friends, and cooking. For co-op, Matt had the opportunity to work at a place called Carpenter Technology in Reading, PA. They are a specialty alloy metals company that makes stainless steel for aerospace and other extreme environments. His co-op helped him figure out what he wants to do with his future. After he graduates Drexel, he wants to do industry research along with something that combines material science, engineering, and mechanical engineering. Although the club hasn’t specifically influenced his career path, he wants to get into management at some point and says that his experience with managing Weekend Warriors will help with that.
If you’re interested in anything related to being outside and meeting new people you should consider joining Weekend Warriors. Make sure to check out their Facebook group! https://www.facebook.com/DrexelWeekendWarriors