Hannah Van Otterloo — Staff Writer

Dordt has to be located in possibly one of the most boring and dullest locations in America. At least, that’s what many students complain about. Situated in the thriving metropolis of Sioux Center, Iowa students struggle to survive boredom, especially when they are restricted to the college student budget.

The origin of this claim is understandable, but what about the validity of this claim? Is there really nothing to do at or around Dordt?

That’s something to be debated, especially when looking at the newly formed Instagram page, The Kernel Journal. This page was started by a group of Junior girls at Dordt after their semi-spontaneous road trip to Wisconsin one weekend in September.

“We went four wheeling and went mudding and went zip lining into a lake, and it was just a blast and a half. And [we thought] this is what going to college in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest can be, and people should really experience this,” said Brianna Schueller, one of the cofounders and runners of the Kernel Journal Instagram page.

Jacquelyn Geels, the other cofounder of the Kernel Journal Instagram page, agreed. “We decided that people should do things like this more often. It wasn’t that bad of a drive, and all we really had to pay for was gas!”

Started on the drive home from Wisconsin, The Kernel Journal aims to be a source of inspiration for Dordt students looking for fun activities in the Midwest.

“Sometimes our ideas are like “hey we should do this” as a joke and then the other people are like, “yeah! Let’s do it!!” And the next thing you know you’re smashing rotten apples with a baseball bat or you’re driving up to a nearby state park to have a campfire cookout. We have some pretty crazy ideas because when we all get together, the gears just start turning, and you have no idea what someone will say. Occasionally we go down little rabbit trails and get far from the original plan, but I think that’s where a lot of the fun happens! Other times, it’s like a 15 minute plan and leave sort of thing, you’ve just gotta learn to be more spontaneous sometimes!” Geels said.

Spontaneous outings don’t come without challenges for the people behind The Kernel Journal.

“Getting people to all have the same schedule or finding times that lineup to do stuff together, that can be hard,” Schueller said.

But these issues don’t stop them as they keep adding ideas to their list of things to do. From pizza making and a girls night in to MarioKart tournaments to Turkey bowling around Thanksgiving, they have an arsenal of ideas at the ready.

“It’s so much more about the people that you do it with than what you’re doing,” Schueller said. “There’s a lot of really great people here, and one of the perks of living in the middle of nowhere is that you are kind of forced to actually know your friends and actually know each other. As much as you’re doing stuff and that kind of thing, it’s also about just hanging out and getting to know each other.”