Cherie Calabrese is the acting president of Women's Wilderness Weekend of Rhode Island.

Cherie Calabrese was a girl when she started attending camp at the University of Rhode Island's W. Alton Jones Campus.

Now an art teacher in a special education program, Calabrese still returns to "camp" in the woods of West Greenwich as acting president of Women's Wilderness Weekend of Rhode Island, http://www.womenswildernessri.com, a series of gatherings where women can learn new skills or simply find respite. The next two weekends are Oct. 17 to 19 and Jan. 23 to 25.

"I don't like to use the term "retreat,' says Calabrese. "It's a rejuvenation weekend for women."

Women's Wilderness Weekend is unlike Becoming An Outdoorswoman, a program stressing outdoor skills. Women's Wilderness Weekend does offer skills training with such experts as Amanda Spears, a multi-year national archery champion, but attendance is strictly optional. "If you want to be alone, and sit and knit, that's OK," says Calabrese.

Women's Wilderness Weekend also offers a diverse program with craft classes, wine tasting, and for an extra fee massage and reflexology.

The diversity of the program matches the diversity of women who attend, says Calabrese. They include executives, homemakers, medical professionals, women residing in shelters and others. "We have active women as well as inactive women," Calabrese says. "The classes are designed with the diversity of women in mind."

URI started the program in 1975, but the university dropped it in the 1990s. In 2001, an independent group of women revived Women's Wilderness Weekend and kept it at the W. Alton Jones Campus, where facilities are available for rent. The campus once was a private estate, made famous by the frequent visits of Dwight D. Eisenhower when he was president.

Women's Wilderness Weekend has a corps of women who attend frequently, says Calabrese, and there are new members at each gathering. Ages range from 18 to people in their 80s. "It's a way for women to commune with themselves, nature and other women," says Calabrese.

The fee to attend Women's Wilderness Weekend is $185. It includes tuition, use of all equipment, lodging and meals. Scholarship assistance is available through a grant the group recently received from REI, the national outfitting cooperative with a store in Cranston. More information is available on the web site listed above, or by calling Calabrese, at (203) 284-0481.