Great Hollow Wilderness School and Wesleyan Orientation in the Wilderness (WOW) collection

In the late 1960s, a 1,440 acre wildlife preserve in New Fairfield was willed to Wesleyan University by Walter Gordon Merritt. The land was named Great Hollow and in 1969, Peter Budryk, with the moral support of Murray Durst, created the Great Hollow Wilderness School (GHWS), a sort of combination of Upward Bound and Outward Bound: a wilderness program for disadvantaged youth. After the first year of the program in 1970, Budryk developed a graduate course in the Wesleyan Master of Arts in Teaching program in outdoor education leadership; after a few years, the course was no longer needed as a group of capable GHWS staff were available. In 1973, Budryk was named executive director of the program and was given full responsibility for its development and operation. In 1982, the Wilderness Education Association invited and accredited GHWS to conduct the National Standard Program in Outdoor Leadership Certification.

In 1985, GHWS was given approval to run an optional freshman orientation trip. The first Wesleyan Orientation in the Wilderness (WOW) in 1985 was very successful and the program continued through the 1990s.