• Our students are very active on campus. Some common areas of interest are:
  

• band, chorus, orchestra, and other music ensembles–open to both music majors and non-majors. Many LSC students receive some form of music scholarship. For more info, please contact Mr. Bill Brent, chair of the School of Creative and Performing Arts.
  
  
• theater–also open to majors and non-majors. There are a number of plays and musicals each semester, including student productions for directing class.  For more info, please contact Dr. Scott Burrell , artistic director of the Theater Program.
  
  
• varsity sports–including football, baseball, women's basketball, women's soccer, and track.
  
  
• Intramural sports–the dorm often is represented by a team.
  
  
• fraternities and sororities–a number of Scholars are officers in their organizations.
  
  
• The Student Government Association and Student Activities Board sponsor lots of events on campus.
  
  
• The Demon radio station, KNWD–be a DJ and run your own show!
  
  
• The Natchitoches Forum on NSU Channel 22 was conceived and produced by LSC students. You could carry on this great tradition and have your own cable access talk show.
  
  
• The Current Sauce, NSU's student newspaper--Scholars' students have contributed to the paper as reporters, colummnists, photographers and artists.  In 2007 Leigh Gentry (LSC '09) will be the new Editor.  You don't have to be a journalism major to participate.
  
  
• ROTC–a number of students have become cadets to take advantage of new scholarship opportunities for law school and medical school.
  
  
• NSU Crew--initially established by Dr. Wolffe and Scholars' College students, this club sport competes at the varsity level.  Each fall they sponsor the World Marathon Rowing Championships on the Cane River.
  
  
• academically oriented clubs–such as Mu Epsilon Delta (the pre-med club), which arranges trips to various medical schools, and the German Club, sponsoring fun activities emphasizing German culture.
  
  
• service organizations–including NSU Tutors, Scholars' College students who tutor at Natchitoches schools.

Off-Campus Activities:

As on any other college campus, you can expect to find athletic events, concerts and recitals, plays, special speakers, dances, and movies offered as part of the campus experience. Lap swimmers can utilize the Natatorium just behind the dorm. The Rec Complex includes a public 18 hole golf course and Olympic-size pool just across the by-pass from campus. Adjacent to this property is the Well Woods, a natural area with hiking trails.

Within walking distance the Natchitoches Arts Center features community theater and improv groups, a coffee house and several small restaurants offer live music (usually on weekends), and street dances are held after home football games. Most major events in the Christmas Festival occur on campus, in the historic district, or at the riverfront stage downtown. In fact, many weekends there will be live music on the riverbank. There are two local museums downtown, plus the parish library, and at least two weekends a year there are organized tours of historic homes. There are a number of historic reenactments from the colonial to Civil War periods. 

Somewhat further away there is a four-plex movie theater which plays most major releases, a number of small clubs, and several pizza places (3 of which deliver to campus). Some students enjoy holding study groups at the all night truck stops by I-49 or the LA 6 by-pass–you get some great reactions from the other customers when they overhear you discussing Plato or organic chemistry, and the coffee's always fresh! WalMart is open 24 hours a day for those 2am munchies runs.

By the way, our students are very creative.  Their answer to the hype surrounding the Natchitoches Christmas Festival?  A few years ago, as you can see at the left, they went caroling at their professors' houses on Halloween! 

For those times when only a road trip will do, there are excuses to travel to Alexandria or Shreveport–more extensive shopping, movie selection, and restaurants, to name a few. Both cities are approximately an hour's drive away.

For nature lovers, there are numerous public access sites in Kisatchie National Forest in every direction from Natchitoches and Briarwood Nature Preserve (right), the American Rose Center, and Hodges Gardens are close by. A tour of the plantation district is a moderate to serious bicycle ride for a Saturday–about 20 to 40 miles round trip.

Most weekends in the spring, summer, and fall there is some sort of festival occurring somewhere in the region. In addition to the Christmas Festival, Natchitoches hosts a Folklife Festival and Jazzfest in the summer.

Religious Organizations:

Many Scholars' students participate in the Baptist Student Union, Catholic Student Organization, or Wesley Wesminster Foundation, all located on or adjacent to campus. Natchitoches has a number of organized religious groups.

Athletics:

NSU's varsity sports facilities have been recently updated, and the new Wellness and Recreational Activites Building has just opened.  This 81,000 square foot facility, just down the street from the Scholars' College dorm, houses two gyms with 4 basketball courts, 3000 sq. ft. free weights area, 2800 sq. ft. strength machine weight area, 2800 sq. ft. cardio-equipment area, group exercise studio, spin cycle class studio, Fitness Assessment Lab, two game room, 3 racquetball courts, men's locker areas, women's locker areas, steam rooms, massage room, equipment service center, student cafe, meeting rooms, indoor track, and all of the NSU Recreational Administrative staff offices.

Current Scholars' students compete in track, volleyball, soccer,  and baseball . For news on the varsity, check out NSUDemons.com. 

Northwestern sponsors IM competition in football, basketball, soccer & softball, and provides indoor and outdoor swimming pools, aerobics classes, a weight training room, basketball and racquetball courts, etc.

Don't forget the Crew Team, started by Dr. Lisa Wolffe and LSC students, for both casual and varsity-level activities.  Each year they sponsor the World Rowing Marathon Championships on Cane River Lake in early November and have Saturday scrimmages in the spring with northern teams who come here to train.