Signups for the May 17, 2026 Outdoor Club kayak lesson
and practice paddling at Baylands Preserve (16 minutes from the campus)
have things you should do before you come on campus to sign up.
To sign up you always need to bring a valid government-issued photo ID.
(which could be a drivers license or a clear photo on your cell phone of your passport) as proof of who you are and to show how old you are.
and proof you are a De Anza student to be able to sign up for an event.
(For proof of enrollment you can show us, on your smart-enough phone, your enrollment at the Portal.)
You can’t just show up for an off-campus event and expect to participate without having signed up in advance in person and having paid in advance, in part because the college has a release everyone who goes off campus must sign before they go off campus. If you are under 18 your parent / guardian must sign you up, in person, with you.
The college release needs to be completed for each person for every off-campus event.
It covers what should be done in a medical emergency, Rules of Conduct, and an acknowledgement that the college is not providing transportation. You sign, for example, “it is my responsibility to arrange for transportation to and from the activity.” It has to be signed by the student (or there is one signed by the parent/guardian of a student under 18 years old), then signed by the faculty or staff member officially leading the trip, then the faculty or staff member is responsible for getting it turned in to the administration before the trip.
You will need to write in your eight-digit De Anza College student identification number Campuswide ID (CWID),
(and we have found that some people coming to sign up for events do not remember their ID Number).
In the release you will give info about your health coverage and in the event of a medical emergency, who to notify.
(And we have found that some people coming to sign up for events do not know their type / brand of health insurance).
Take a look at a sample of the required-by-the-college release.
You can’t sign up on-line, by email or at this website, each student must appear in person to sign trip agreements/releases and show proof they are a currently enrolled student.
Your friend or even your spouse can’t sign the required paperwork.
Especially important to note if you are under 18 years old the college requires that a parent/guardian will need to sign all the documents along with you, in person.)
There are no waitlists for club events.
Step One
If you carefully read the Baylands Kayaking trip webpage,
and trip agreement
before you come to sign up, it will go much faster and you will better be able to pass the trip pre-test.
(We give a mini-test to try to be sure people understand the trip safety rules.
Most people who took the test the last times we went kayaking got perfect or near-perfect scores.)
Step Two
The sign ups (or ask questions or take the pre-test) for the Baylands kayaking lesson and practice paddling will be:
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At classroom S56, 4:30 p.m. Fridays April 10, 17, 24, and May 1, 2026.
(During the April 10 meeting we talked about future club adventures and watched NASA’s Artemis II crew (after a nine day journey to and around the backside of the moon) splash down off the coast of San Diego on the big screen in the classroom.) (At the April 24 meeting we will have a tent pitching lesson, with a typical 2 person tent for anyone who has never camped to learn to “pitch” (set up). Whether you already know how to pitch a tent or not, you might get a smile from reading Don’t buy a cheap tent.
The section “On the 2017 winter Yosemite trip these people pitched their tent incorrectly” is one of the worst Outdoor Club examples for how to NOT camp.)
To find classroom S56, go to:
https://www.deanza.edu/maps-and-tours/
Look for the S5 building. S56 is in the bottom left hand corner of the S5 building.
Or look at the map with room numbers of buildings at:
https://www.deanza.edu/maps-and-tours/s_quad.html
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During Club Day, Thursday, April 23 , (unless the college postpones Club Day for a week as it has sometimes due to rain).
Club Day is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the Outdoor Club intends to be there at least that entire time, (maybe even as early at 9 a.m.) but coming to sign up the last hour will not give you enough time to take the test and do all the paperwork.
Spring Quarter 2026 Club Day will be in in the Sunken Garden, (at the top of the map below) Notice it in relation to the main quad, where the biggest fountain on campus is in the mini-map below:
You can find the Sunken Garden and Main Quad in about the upper left – center of the campus map at:
https://www.deanza.edu/maps-and-tours/
I suggest you click on the printable map.
Thursday, May 7, 12:25 ( to 1:30 or ….) at the De Anza swimming pool. (down on the pool deck) This is one of the signup days that you do not need to bring a cashiers check, because you can do paperwork and then go to Student Accounts on campus to pay.
By appointment, for students who are known to the club faculty advisor (Mary Donahue) because they went on a previous club trip or they were in one of her classes. Monday, May 4 2:45 -4 p.m. and Monday, May 11, 11:30 – 4 p.m. on campus. Email me at least 24 hours before the date you want to come sign up,
with the date / time you want to sign up,
your name, the last four digits of your student ID number,
and how it is I know you (for example, “I was in the HLTH57A class winter quarter 2026 . . or . . I went on the Yosemite trip 2025” . . or “I went on the Baylands kayaking October 2025,” . . . or “I went on the 2023 and 2022 Grand Tetons trips” . . . )
and I will send you directions for where to find me on campus.
PEOPLE CAN NOT JUST SHOW UP AT BAYLANDS AND PAY
because the college has required paperwork that must be turned in BEFORE each off campus adventure.
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Step Three
We can’t take cash from people for trip payments.
We can’t take personal checks because the club has had to pay large fees when people bounce checks, and we have had tooooo many bounced checks.
When Student Accounts is open, students can go pay there with cash or a credit card. But Student Accounts has limited hours and only on weekdays. It is not open during our signup times Friday afternoon and is closed for lunch mid-day on weekdays.
Most people will need to get a money order for the payment and bring the money order payment when you come to sign up.
see: how to get a money order to pay for an Outdoor Club trip
(Instead of needing to get a money order or cashiers check,
on Club Day it might be possible to do the pretest, go to Student Accounts and pay with cash or a credit card, and then come back and do the trip paperwork. BUT Student Accounts is often closed for a lunch hour.)
People who wait until the last minute to sign up are sometimes left out.