Press Release

Ocean Bound: Brevard College's Voice of the Rivers Team Embarks on 19-day Voyage Down Yadkin-Pee Dee Rivers


A group of Brevard College students and professors is gearing up for a kayak adventure of a life time.

On Sunday, May 16, the College’s Voice of the Rivers (VOR) team will embark on a nearly 400-mile kayak expedition that will snake through North and South Carolina and end in the Atlantic Ocean.

This year, two Brevard College faculty members and 11 students will paddle the length of the Yadkin-Pee Dee watershed. The group will begin its journey by scouting the river's source in the mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, N.C. They will then embark on a 19-day paddling trip starting in North Wilkesboro, N.C. and ending near Georgetown, S.C. where Winyah Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean.

The Voice of the Rivers trip offers Brevard College students an interdisciplinary study of a river from its source to its end. During the trip, the students will learn about communication analysis and design as they study rivers and their importance to society. The courses are united with a study of current river conservation efforts, guided by the team’s experiences. Students will examine the challenges facing the health of the waterway, learn about various conservation groups and examine their strategies aimed at protecting this endangered resource.

Plans are also underway for VOR members to talk with a variety of people and programs that support the river, media organizations and conservation groups in North and South Carolina as the group makes its way to the sea.

VOR students—whose majors include Art, Religious Studies, Environmental Science, Exercise Science, Psychology and Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education—are also required to post daily journal entries, photos and videos of their travels and experiences online using Facebook, blogs and the Brevard College Web site (www.brevard.edu/VOR).

Student expedition members include: Austin Bunn of Gaston, S.C.; Rich Campana of Raleigh, N.C.; Aislinn Dugan of Nantucket, Mass.; Jana Eilermann of Cincinnati, Ohio; Marshal Hartley of Clarks Mills, Penn.; Brian Henion of Hendersonville, N.C.; Katherine McKittrick of Charlotte, N.C.; Daniel Modahl of Beverly, Mass.; Teresa Musick of Hagerstown, Md.; Chelsea Preciado of Nashville, Tenn.; and Marcus Roberson of Davidson, N.C.

Team leaders are Brevard College Associate Professor and Coordinator of Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education Jennifer Kafsky and Assistant Professor of Business and Organizational Leadership Cameron Austin.

Brevard College students Max Pelosi of Atlanta, Ga. and Tucker Lee of Baton Rouge, La.—both seniors in the WildernessLeadership and Experiential Education Program—are assisting with this year’s trip.
Since its inaugural 1997 expedition from Brevard, N.C. to the Gulf of Mexico, the Voice of the Rivers program at Brevard College has offered students and faculty an opportunity to paddle and study a variety of ecologically and culturally significant rivers.
The VOR experience—which combines academics with outdoor exploration—is designed to educate the public and raise awareness of activities that threaten rivers; bring attention to organizations and groups poised to address those threats; and foster a sense of stewardship and community activity among the students who participate.

Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, Brevard College offers a range of distinctive baccalaureate degree programs. The VOR program embodies the College’s commitment to a liberal arts education that is interdisciplinary and experiential. Past VOR expeditions include trips down the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers; the Green River; the Rio Santa Cruz, Rio Limay and Rio Negro rivers in Patagonia, Argentina; the Savannah River; and the Catawba-Wateree watershed.