ParentNET
A slice of campus life written by an MTU student

A proud Huskies tradition: athletics

Well parents, I hope you are helping your student put the final touches on their packing this week! First-year orientation begins on this coming Sunday, so it will be a fun-filled week on the campus of Michigan Tech! Another fun aspect to Michigan Tech that your student may or may not have thought about already is getting involved by supporting or participating in our many athletics events.

NCAA
Michigan Tech is accredited at the NCAA Division II level for our main sports of football, basketball, volleyball, cross country, track and field, Nordic skiing, and tennis. For our Division II sports we are part of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). We also have cheerleading and dance teams that support many of the Division II sports. We are accredited at the Division I level for ice hockey and are a part of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). The best part about being a Michigan Tech student when it comes to athletics is that we get in to all of the athletic events for free! However, since we are Division I hockey, students are required to buy a ticket, but there are reduced student tickets for $7.  If you would like more information on tickets in general, please visit: http://www.aux.mtu.edu/tickets/. 

Our fall semester will kick off with exciting football and volleyball games, cross country meets, and tennis matches. If you would like to view the sports schedule, please visit: http://www.athletics.mtu.edu/ and view the “Upcoming Events” box.

And one of the most entertaining aspects to our hockey and football games is the Michigan Tech Pep Band! You can’t miss the enthusiastic instrumentalists in their brightly striped yellow and black overalls! And you definitely can’t ignore their amazing sound. If you think the pep band is something your student would love, please visit the pep band homepage at http://www.fa.mtu.edu/%7Edawgs/.

Intramurals
Intramural sports are also a great way to get involved on our campus. Intramural sports are sports teams that compete only on our campus against other Michigan Tech teams. I highly recommend new students get involved in these sports because they can be challenging and competitive and are a great way to meet many new people.

Since our list of intramural sports is quite extensive, you can view the list in full at this website: http://www.exsci.mtu.edu/im/. The cost for being on an intramural team varies with each sport, but is relatively inexpensive. The number of teams varies with demand, and with resources each semester and season.

If your student is not a first-year student, they can also get involved by being a sports official or working for the intramural sports office. For more information on student employment, please download this PDF: http://www.exsci.mtu.edu/im/studentemployment.pdf.

Community Programs
So maybe competitive athletics aren’t quite for your student—no problem! They can still exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle by getting outdoors and enjoying the beautiful biking, hiking, or walking trails and water activities we have all around the Houghton area. And if your student is more of an indoors person, that’s ok, too! We have plenty of community programs that take place indoors at the Student Development Complex (SDC) all year round. These activities include scuba diving, aerobics, yoga, pilates, skating, swimming/water aerobics, tennis, riflery and archery club, and many more! Community Programs do require a membership pass (passes are not free for students, and costs vary between class types and lengths), and are available for community members as well as students; so most community programs take place in the evenings.

Michigan Tech’s campus also offers the Portage Lake Golf Course if your student is interested in golfing. There are open golf leagues during the summer, as well as various tournaments. Students can also sign up to take golf as a PE class, or they can pay to take lessons. To learn more about our golf course, please visit: http://www.golf.mtu.edu/.

To check out what community programs we will be offering for fall semester, please visit: http://www.aux.mtu.edu/rec/community/community.html.

And on one last note, if you and your student want to deck out in Michigan Tech gear at athletic events or before you get to campus, Husky merchandise can be ordered online from our campus stores at: http://www.bookstore.mtu.edu/michtech2/.

I wish you all safe travels to Houghton as you prepare to help your student move to campus, and I hope I will have the pleasure of meeting some of you during orientation (I’m usually volunteer at Orientation events in one way or another!)!

Until next week,

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