ORGT Volunteer

GET INVOLVED

Want to get involved in outdoor recreation and become an instructor-in-training? ORGT is a community of over 150 student volunteers and alumni who lead adventure trips year-round. A program of the Campus Recreation Center, ORGT has been part of Georgia Tech for 50 years.
Pre-COVID, we offered 180 adventure trips annually and are proud to be one of the only campus outdoor programs to have led expeditions to all seven continents between 2012-2018.

GENERAL OVERVIEW + REQUIREMENTS

We thrive on student volunteer leadership but operate differently than most clubs and student organizations. You can’t exactly “join” by just “signing up”. If you are looking for a chance to build healthy outdoor experiences for other GT students, we likely have a role for you.

It takes more than 150 volunteers per semester to offer over 40 high quality adventure opportunities. The ORGT community is a close-knit group of committed students and alumni who have qualified to lead trips through a self-directed, peer-reviewed training process. Becoming an ORGT volunteer staff member provides access to challenging adventures, better coaching, and higher skill development. That’s not all — many alumni recount how their ORGT experiences helped develop the practical leadership skills that contributed to their marketability and career success.

In a typical year, we offer over 180 adventure trips – all led by highly-trained ORGT volunteers. We specialize in 9 different adventure sports, each is managed by a dedicated group of Georgia Tech volunteers. All of our volunteers begin as Instructors-in-training and progress through our structured training progression. Each sport manages up to 20 open enrollment trips per year:

While you can’t “join” ORGT, you can volunteer with ORGT and train to eventually lead trips. Becoming an ORGT volunteer requires:

  1. Going on a trip.
  2. Being nominated as an Instructor-in-Training in a particular sport.
  3. Completing “ORGT Fundamentals” training.
  4. Signing volunteer agreements.
  5. Engaging in one of our training progressions to build skills and experience.

HOW TO BECOME AN ORGT VOLUNTEER

In general, here are things to know about volunteering with ORGT:

  • Once engaged with ORGT as an Instructor-in-Training (IIT), it can take 1-2 years to advance to the level of instructor or trip leader.
  • Most of our active volunteers work with us for  multiple years. Many achieve skill levels in their particular sport that would be recognized as “expert”.
  • Many ORGT volunteers report that leadership-related skills learned leading trips are a perfect complement to their Georgia Tech academic degree. Their hours of volunteer service are often noticed by potential employers, too.

If you are interested in becoming more active with Outdoor Recreation, here are the next 4 things you should do:

  1. Call ORGT at 404-894-7420 between 2 – 7 p.m., Monday – Thursday (until 5 p.m. on Friday), and ask about upcoming orientation events.
  2. Visit this section of the CRC website frequently. As our process changes, those changes will be listed here.
  3. Visit a virtual or in-person sport group meeting. Each of our 9 sports meets weekly.
  4. Once nominated by one of our sports, participate in “ORGT Fundamentals” training.