News
An Amazing Race!
This year’s Beyond the Gates programming – an essential part of the Grade 9 curriculum at Shawnigan – got going on Wednesday with the Amazing Race, an introduction to the skills that the students will need and some of the challenges they may encounter over the course of the year.
“The goal was to get students working in teams and communicating with each other, and to get to know the campus,” outdoor education teacher Ms. Jessica Dick explained.
The race saw teams of students go through five stages: a stretcher race, tent building, critical thinking, orienteering, and plant identification. New this year, the plant identification stage helped students get to know the environment and incorporated the First Peoples Principles of Learning as they were required to locate and photograph six naturally occurring plants on campus with food or medicinal uses.
“It encourages awareness of native plants and taught the students about using natural resources,” Ms. Dick noted.
Another goal of the Amazing Race is to get students collaborating and having fun in advance of the Beyond the Gates backcountry trips. With that in mind, teams were formed based on House groups, allowing the students to form or build on relationships within their Houses. Copeman’s and Groves’ emerged as the winning teams.
Hot on the heels of the Amazing Race, the Grade 9s embarked on their backcountry expeditions on Friday. Students picked between a 21km hike on the Juan de Fuca Trail on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island and a kayak trip to Portland Island off the north end of the Saanich Peninsula. They all prepared to pack in their supplies, build tents, and cook food.
The students will be tested, and it will be a learning experience for all of them, but nothing is beyond their capabilities.
“The backcountry trips are designed to be challenging but doable,” Ms. Dick said.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
