Q&A with Molly Lawson: Landmark College Offers Opportunities For Everyone to Stay Active

For Landmark College students attending this weekend’s camping trip to Lonesome Lake Hut in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, there is no singular right way to camp.

“You get to choose your own adventure, is what I like to say,” said Molly Lawson, assistant director of recreation and outdoor programs at the College. “Do you want to spend most of your time at the river? You can do that. You want to lay in the hammock, read a book? You can do that too. It’s just kind of a nice retreat.”

Choosing one’s own adventure is a good way to describe the approach of the College’s athletic and recreational programs. This fall’s schedule includes options for anyone who wants to stay active. Activities include camping, hiking, paddling, indoor rock climbing, exercise classes, yoga, and of course, team sports.

New classes this fall include midday yoga offered by Transition at College (TaC) Program Coordinator Marlee Bickford-Bushey, Aikido by Assistant Professor of Music & New Media Jason Beaudreau, and an introduction to fitness and cardio by Lawson, who emphasized that students, faculty, and staff of the College get a free Peloton account.

Also new this fall is the addition of recreational equipment to the campus quad, ideal for students with only a few moments between classes to enjoy the outdoors. 

“You might notice cornhole out on the quad. You might notice tetherball or the hammocks or the volleyball net,” Lawson said. “There are multiple recreational activities available right now on the quad and that has not been the case before.”

On a recent day, Lawson took some time from her busy schedule to share a little more about her role at the College, how an alum is making it possible to provide more programming, and the new, themed indoor climbing nights.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Can you tell me about your role as assistant director of recreation and outdoor programs?

Generally speaking, I've been responsible for overseeing some of the fitness components. Then in terms of recreation, offering various programs throughout the week to add to student life. So anywhere from: running the ropes course to having an open climb to some type of recreational sports or coordinating the swim shuttle so that students can have an opportunity to swim.

Then it's always scheduling the outdoor trips, which happen on a weekly basis.

What are some ways our recreation programs, such as the outdoor trips, take advantage of the region?

I always use seasonality. Southern Vermont offers so much outdoor recreation that I want to take advantage of the season. For instance, you'll notice on the schedule, there are various water opportunities, from whitewater rafting to paddling to tubing. I try and take advantage of the season in that way. The same thing goes for hiking and camping.

We are offering a rail trail biking trip in October. We haven't offered that one before. 

We have two camping trips this semester and they're both coming up next month in October. 

What happens during the camping trips?

The first one is a hut camping trip where we will drive to the White Mountains, Franconia Notch in New Hampshire. We will hike in a couple miles to what's called Lonesome Lake Hut. 

It overlooks Lonesome Lake in the White Mountains and it's hut camping, which means it's a building. It's a structure and it's through the Appalachian Mountain Club and they serve us dinner. It’s rustic camping where everybody will stay in one room in a cabin.

But there's a lot of flexibility. There are trails all around it. It'll be a really cool opportunity. That's a one-night.

The second one, it's the Jamaica State Park camping trip. It's a two-night camping trip and I call it ‘base camping.’ When I say that, it means we will drive to a campsite. It's Jamaica State Park, part of the Vermont State Park system. We reserve two campsites and we do all of our cooking right there at the campsite. There's a river nearby, there are hiking trails. 

It's very much just being out in nature: low-structure, so some folks can just hang out. We have a hammock generally at the campsite, and folks can just enjoy. And then there's options like, ‘At 2 o'clock, we're going to go to the river if anyone wants to come.’ Students really appreciate that kind of programming.

You have a graduate assistant, Fiona Mann ’26, helping you out. How has this allowed you to expand offerings?

With the addition of having Fiona here, it allows the ability for me to offer a couple things at the same time. For example, on Wednesday nights, we've got climbing happening. It's thematic climbing and I'll go into what those themes are.

At the same time, we also go bowling, so Fiona and I are switching on and off. One of us runs the climb. One of us takes students bowling.

So I would say, with the addition of having a graduate assistant that I'm able to offer more programming at the same time, which is really great.

What about the themed climb nights? Are, for example, LGBTQ+ and women’s climb nights only open to members of these communities?

No. You have to be a respectful person to come. But it's really available for all. 

It's an intentional space, a safe space for those different groups of folks. For example, the first Wednesday of the month is intro night. So those are for beginners. We'll show you how to put on a harness. We'll show you all of the basics.

The intentionality for this is not only to create special spaces for different groups, but it's also, if you are a beginner climber and you're coming to just regular open climb, I can't give as much time. But if we dedicate a night that's intro climbing night, then everybody can be introduced to the sport.

Then the second week of the month is open climb, just regular open climb. The third Wednesday of the month is LGBTQ+ nights. The fourth Wednesday is all-women climb. If there's a fifth Wednesday, then we have another open climb.

So it's a new way of trying programming, and I'm going to check it out and see how it goes. That's how I try things: Let's try it. Let's see what the response is.

For more information on recreational opportunities and athletic teams, visit the Athletics, Fitness, and Recreation section of our website, and view the full schedule of opportunities on SharkNet.