Last week, a group of 16 students of the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute left the school to participate in the school’s seventh annual outdoor education experience.
Dubbed the Spartan Voyageurs, the group, accompanied by four adults, took what each person needed in backpacks, hooked up a trailer containing 10 canoes, and in three vehicles headed north of Arran and Whitebeech to explore Small Fish Lake, Woody Lake, Elbow Lake and Spirit Lake, which has a channel to Armitt Lake if the water is high enough.
Although in years past the group had travelled further north, it was decided this year to spend more time at their destination rather that travelling to it, and see the outdoors closer to home, said Mark Forsythe, who with Cory Johnson, Rhonda Thomsen and Monica Morgan, is accompanying the students.
“Rather than going all the way up north, we felt it might be better this year to explore our backyard,” Forsythe said.
The group of students in grades 10 to 12, left on June 14 and was due back in Kamsack on Saturday.
The 2017 Spartan Voyageurs are: Kailey Sterzer, Koryssa Woloshyn, Paris Campre, Shani Bear, Kaylie Bowes, Regan Nichol, Ava Tourangeau, Chloe Irvine, Allison Thomsen, Keanna Romaniuk, Jaraden Bryksa, Mikayla Woloshyn, Brayden Fatteicher, Julianna Raabel, Breanna Bland and Allison Placatka.
In their applications, interested students had to complete an assignment regarding the effects on the environment the trip will make and the footprint they will leave, Forsythe explained. Seven of the students have been on the outdoor education exercise previously, and three of the four adults have been on previous trips.
With so many students new to the trip, it has been designed to be a bit easier than the others, he said, explaining that it will include only a couple small portages.
On the trip the students will learn survival and canoeing skills; team building; how to work in pairs, set up camp and how to build fires and shelters, he said. “We’ll be doing lots of fishing, canoeing and some hiking.”
Although the group plans to camp at rustic, but established campsites the first two nights, Forsythe said that they plan to canoe to an island on Spirit Lake to spend their last night in the wilderness.
Preparing for the trip, the students did canoe training at Batka Lake at Duck Mountain Provincial Park and learned how to portage, lift and load the canoes. They learned about the types of canoe paddling, including the J-stroke, sweep, pry and draw and participated in team rescues in which one canoe with students is overturned, while students in a second canoe go out to conduct a rescue.
The students have also had to plan their menus and the amounts of food that will be needed, he said. They focused on four food groups and have packed all the ingredients including cooking utensils.
Helping the project get off the ground this year are several sponsors, including the Co-op food store in Kamsack, the Kamsack Petro-Can outlet and Duck Mountain Ambulance. Ambulance staff members have instructed the group in basic first aid.
Asked why he enjoys going on the trip, Forsythe said he goes because he works in an office and enjoys the contrast.
“I also think it’s important for me to help carry on the program which had been started by Greg Thomas, who has now left the school,” he said, adding that he enjoys seeing the effects the trip has on the students.
“Some of the students are a bit shy, some may have little confidence, and after the trip you can see a difference,” he said.
Monica Morgan, who is making her second trip with the group, said she has fun and loves the outdoors, while Rhonda Thomsen, who has also been on previous trips, said she finds it relaxing and an enjoyable physical experience.
Within the Good Spirit School Division only the Melville Composite High School has a similar outdoor education program.
