Student Life
Grade 8s Take a Hike
Our youngest students have been getting to know Vancouver Island in their first months at Shawnigan thanks to some off-campus excursions with our Outdoor Education teachers, part of our OuterEDGE experiential learning programs aimed at Grade 8s and 9s.
In mid-September, the Grade 8s hiked through campus, and kayaked and canoed on Shawnigan Lake, and last week, the group hiked Maple Mountain near Duncan, exploring the fall colours and the way the environment changes as we move from summer into fall.
“For the students, it’s an introduction to where we live and what’s in our backyard, and to outdoor activities they might not be familiar with,” says Outdoor Education Coordinator Ms. Jessica Dick. “It will help prepare them for the Beyond the Gates program next year and give them a little taste of activities and help them find things they might be interested in.”
Beyond the Gates is an immersive, year-long, experiential learning program that connects Grade 9 students with the diverse wilderness beyond the Shawnigan campus, blending lived experience with academic classes. Excursions in Grade 8 will help students get ready for bigger trips next year.
On the Grade 8 trips, Ms. Dick has been teaching students about the local flora and fauna, the things growing under and around their feet.
“I tell them what the plants are doing, what they can and can’t eat,” she says. “They saw lichen spots on the trees, and they saw a wood frog on Maple Mountain.”
The timing of the hikes allowed the students to see the transition between summer and fall in the Vancouver Island forests. Unfortunately, they just missed mushroom season, as the fungi don’t really start to pop up until after the rains come.
The students’ previous levels of experience varied; while those who grew up locally may have hiked regularly with their families, it was more likely to be a new experience for international students. Some of the students have come back exhausted from the hikes, while others, says Ms. Dick, felt like they could have hiked another 10 kilometres.
“There were diverse feelings, but they all came back with fresh air in their lungs and an experience with their classmates they would otherwise get inside four walls.”
Students have been asking for more hikes, and Ms. Dick has some winter activities in the works as well, such as snowshoeing, and tracking wildlife in the snow.
“We live beside a lake on an island,” she said. “There are lots of nature opportunities.”
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.
