Some Okotoks students have recently learned that when you fall, you must get right back up.
In fact, Maddie Webster of the Westmount School Outdoor Education class learned that lesson some 56 times on a cross-country ski trip at Ribbon Creek in K-Country on Jan. 9.
“I had never cross-country skied before and it was fun to learn,” the Grade 8 Webster said. “I fell 56 times the first day. The second day, I fell only 14.
“In my journal, I wrote that if you fail a test, you’re not just going to leave it you are going to try and do better.
“It’s the same on the ski hill. If you fall, you’re not going to make the same mistake again, you’re going to try to figure out what you did wrong and try to fix it.”
Webster was one of 28 students from Westmount who travelled to Ribbon Creek for two days of cross-country skiing and a day of hiking.
They stayed overnight at the Ribbon Creek Hostel and student responsibility was the key.
“When people ask me what I do, I tell them I create new opportunities for these kids,” said Steven Kotowich, Westmount Outdoor Ed co-ordinator. “I introduce them to a lot of outdoor pursuits that I hope that some may want to do when they are out of high school. Hey, maybe they will be cross-country skiing when they are 35, 45, 55, 65 years old.”
For three days, the students were connected to Mother Nature not Facebook or Instagram.
Let’s see Mark Zuckerberg try and create the thrill of a lynx crossing one’s path while gliding down a ski trail.
“I had never experienced something like that before, it was pretty cool,” said Grade 9 Bentley Howden, who had to be pulled away from his responsibilities of doing dishes for the interview. “It was only seven metres ahead of us. We were coming over a hill, I was at the front and I saw it. It’s pretty small, the head of a bobcat, it looks like a cat.”
He called seeing the lynx the second best-thing of the trip.
“Just being out here,” Howden said. “It’s kind of fun making your own breakfast, doing your own dishes, it’s a big responsibility.”
He gained more than just knowledge about winter cats, he got more confidence thanks to the program.
“A lot,” Howden said. “I fell six times cross-country skiing the first day and only twice [the second]. I got confident knowing I can do it, kind of pushing myself.”
The previous outdoor experience for the junior high school students varied from first-timers like Howden to Steven’s son Caden, who has spent more time outdoors than Robert Bateman.
“I just try to help them,” Caden said. “I still get to learn about nature out here.”
His dad Steven calls himself a “science and chemistry teacher who likes to play outside.”
He first started an outdoor program in Manitoba before being part of the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School program for 10 years starting in the fall of 2003. He moved on to Westmount in 2013.
“I had a cup of coffee with [former Westmount School principal] Cynthia Glaicar and she said she was looking to start a new outdoor program for junior high,” Kotowich said. “And it’s been lots of fun.”
That cup of coffee resulted in the Outdoor Education program now going into its fifth year.
“Our outdoor education program has grown,” Kotowich said. “We have a lot of teachers involved, a Hunters Education program, an option for Grade 4 to 6 to do things in the outdoors with [teacher] Graham Campbell.”
The adventure on Jan. 11 wasn’t on cross-country skis, but instead the students opted for a gentle 3.5km hike to Troll Falls and back. Prior to heading out, Kotowich ensures all the adults’ radios are working and that the students have the proper wear and food. As well, the hostel must be spotless, as they will be coming home after the hike.
The students record the weather conditions (above zero that day) and any other observations before the hike. A count-off is done before any movements making sure there isn’t a student who has wandered off. On field trips, unlike a math test, coming home with 27 out of 28 is bad.
Safety first, but it’s the students setting the agenda and ensuring things are running slowly.
“Right now, these students are building a lot of skills, perseverance, life skills, resiliency - how to take care of themselves,” Kotowich said. “It’s really easy letting mom and dad do everything. We are teaching them to want to do things for themselves.”
When a group of students are asked what would happen if they told Kotowich they had forgotten his or her gloves they chuckle, and give out a moan.
“He would tell you ‘tough luck,’” one student said with a laugh. “Then he would give you a pair of gloves.”
During the hike an adult — there are seven of them — takes the lead and another one takes the anchor. At one point, the Kananaskis Highway is crossed – students go single file, Kotowich in the middle of the road checks for traffic and encourages the students with “C’mon, my little ducklings,” with a little bit of Tom Cochrane’s Life is a Highway thrown in.
A quarter of the way through the hike, there’s a fork in the trail and in the famed words of Yogi Berra, “if you come to the fork in the road, take it.”
The younger Grade 7 students are asked to read the map and give directions.
“I don’t know where to go, it could be a long hike it could be a short hike,” Kotowich quips.
“Obviously we already know what decisions have to be made. If we give the students the choices to be made, it empowers them.”
The hike isn’t just to get the cardio up, this is a school trip after all and Kotowich has the scenic Kananaskis as his classroom.
The students come upon a rather large teepee like lean-to made of humongous branches and tree debris. While there are a few “cools’ being echoed by the students, Kotowich explains if not for time and safety reasons, he would have his young crew dismantle the fort – don’t tamper with nature.
They stop and view the plethora of fallen trees in a nearby creek. Kotowich explains to the students it’s Mother Nature’s mess due to the 2013 flood. As a result, the Province has opted to leave the natural occurrence as is.
Once the frozen Troll Falls is reached, Kotowich explains the geological and environmental impacts of the freezing and melting of the falls, just after reminding the students to watch their steps, frozen waterfalls tend to be slippery.
It’s not just environmental stuff being taught during an Outdoor trip.
“Janey [Wooldridge] had them all do poetry one Grade 7 trip,” Kotowich said. “And they did it through the lens of the outdoors, which is really cool.”
The students involved in the three-day Ribbon Creek trip also brought their books. Study-time in the evening is a requirement.
For chaperon Pat Linkletter, he’s thrilled to have the learning take place outdoors for his daughter
Danielle.
“They are teaching outdoor life skills, I can only teach so much,” said Linkletter, who called himself a Weekend Warrior regarding the outdoors. “The kids only want to hear so much from a parent. He [Kotowich] is taking them that extra mile more than what I can teach, bear awareness, outdoor survival skills… things like that.”
But isn’t school about the classroom, books, math and memorizing when the War of 1812 was?
“The students still have their school responsibilities,” Linkletter said. “The kids have to have their studies in a row before they can come here. When they are here, they are learning about environment, weather, elevations all that good stuff.
“Danielle seems to push harder because she knows she has deadlines to be able to come on these trips. It teaches them responsibilities.”
Those responsibilities make Linkletter and the other chaperones feel like they are getting service equal to the fancy hotel just up the road. The adults had piping hot scrambled eggs delivered to them by the students prior to the hike.
The students did most of the cooking and cleaning, receiving high praise from the Ribbon Creek staff when they left.
Responsibility and getting accustomed to what the outdoors has to offer is what the program is all about.
“We want the kids to appreciate where we are,” Kotowich said. “Get them to appreciate what we have in our own backyard is really important to me. Someone had vision long before us to make the trails, maybe someday these kids will take that on.
“Maybe we have a wildlife biologist among them, a mountain guide in here, we’re just trying to get them interested and excited.”
For information about the program go to westmount.fsd38.ab.ca
