Oredigger Camp
Oredigger Camp
Start meeting your teammates
Building friendships, confidence, and the occasional campfire.
Like the summer camp experience of your dreams, but with a Mines twist, Oredigger Camp has already earned a reputation as the best way to start your Mines experience. Since its founding in 2017, new first-year students have headed to Golden and then into the mountains for campfires, engineering challenges, and heated gaga ball contests with Mines President Paul C. Johnson. The purpose: To build community, friendships, and connections in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable.
What you’ll do
Meet students from around the world
Learn about the Mines experience
Compete in fun challenges with other new Orediggers
Who
All incoming undergraduate students
When
During Helluva Welcome before fall classes begin
Where
Estes Park, Colorado
Enjoy the mountain air
Build launching devices with your new friends (it’s part of the design challenge!)
Stay up late, get up early, and eat often with the people who will become some of your closest friends
Two-and-a-half days of hanging out, making friends and learning what it means to be an Oredigger in Colorado’s famous Rocky Mountains? Sign us up.
Oredigger reviews
Jacob, Mechanical Engineering, Palisade, Colo.
“I’d say for sure do Oredigger Camp. It offers so many opportunities, and I think the biggest thing is just knowing people before you come to the school. You’re not coming in blind. You’re getting to know all the people who work at the school and getting those kinds of connections that you wouldn’t get normally just walking onto campus. I think it’s an excellent opportunity that shouldn’t be passed up if you can help it.”
Jordan, Computer Science, Elizabeth, Colo.
“I was mostly expecting to get to know other freshmen. That was mainly my draw to come to Oredigger Camp. It was heavily encouraged in the admissions process, so I was thinking, wow, this looks like a really cool opportunity to just meet new freshmen and even the counselors who are upperclassmen and higher up than we are who have been through the Mines experience at least a little bit more than we have and just getting to meet new people.”
Charisma, Mechanical Engineering, Aurora, Colo.
“When I got home from Oredigger Camp, all I could say was I found my people, and this school is my people. I love it so much, and I hope new students really understand that we are a community who can back each other up. We’re there for each other, we’re all going through the same things. And I hope they also get a good sense of teamwork, and I feel like a lot of the engineering challenges we do are not only super fun, but also you’re required to work as a team. And it’s super interesting to work in such a large group with so many different perspectives and ideas getting thrown at you.”
Brennon, Mechanical Engineering, Houston, Texas
“Oredigger Camp was by far my favorite experience at Mines. One of my extremely close friends, Eric Kressin, founded the camp in 2017, and I immediately signed up to be a counselor. I went on to run the camps in 2018 and 2019 alongside some amazing people. Make sure you go to Oredigger Camp, and get ready to have one of the most memorable experiences of your life. Be prepared to make some great friends along the way. I wish I could’ve gone my first year, but I am thankful I was able to be a part of the first few years of Oredigger Camp.”
Rimzhim, Chemical Engineering, Greenwood Village, Colo.
“When I came into Oredigger Camp, I considered myself an extreme introvert. I was very shy. At Oredigger Camp, you’re put in a group of 10 students that you don’t know, and in 48 hours, you become so close with them because you’re spending the entire day with them. So you feel that stress and then you feel the enjoyment of being successful together and it creates this comradery that, when you bring to campus, you’re like, ‘I already know these 10 people,’ and you know that they went through something similar. And it is an immediate bond. Being able to just click with people instantly I would say was a huge part of my success at Mines.”
Torin, Computer Science, Grand Junction, Colo.
“After attending the first-ever Oredigger Camp, as well as returning as a counselor the following two summers, I would highly recommend the experience! Beyond fun activities and a beautiful setting, Oredigger Camp allows students to quickly make amazing and longterm friends before the semester even begins and gain lots of insights into campus activities and ways to be successful at Mines through the fun and supportive counselors. In addition, you’re given the opportunity to connect with (and maybe even play games with) the amazing Mines administration (President Johnson, Dean of Students Derek Morgan and VP of Student Life Dan Fox, to name a few). As a whole, you’ll make some great connections and lifelong memories by attending!”
Bora, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Vail, Colo.
“Oredigger Camp was a phenomenal start to Mines. I met so many people that I still keep in touch with, and those connections are really what jumpstarted my ability to integrate into the Mines community. I still remember my group (Silver 4), and I keep in touch with them fairly often.”