CJP 25th Anniversary

There’s a vibrant community at play and at work in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. EMU students enjoy biking, hiking, hunting, skiing, rock-climbing, canoeing, and just hanging out under typically blue skies. Want to be inside? Take in a concert, shop at Harrisonburg’s classic thrift stores, and catch up over coffee. Ski at Massanutten Resort, take in a D.C. concert, or hike in Shenandoah National Park.

Whatever your tastes, EMU is close to major East Coast cities and only minutes to spectacular outdoor recreation.

With eight colleges within 50 miles of each other, student life in our region is booming. In Harrisonburg alone there is plenty to do: farmers markets, movie theaters, parks, skiing, arboretums, churches, events and festivals.

Harrisonburg is the unofficial biking capital of the Shenandoah Valley, according to Blue Ridge Outdoors. The city of Harrisonburg was picked as one of “America’s Top Mountain Biking Towns,” by USA Today, and was named a 2012 bronze-level ride center by the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) and top bike-friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists. The League also conferred a bronze award on EMU, making EMU the third university in Virginia to be recognized as a “bicycle friendly university.”