Not your average summer school: Students go wild
Summer school isn’t always about catching up on classroom studies.
For Greater Victoria school district students in Grades 10-12, learning in the summer can include subjects such as wilderness first aid, survival skills and trip planning — all while earning eight highschool credits, the equivalent of two full courses.
“They’re getting credit for Tourism 12 and Work Experience 12A,” said Nicola Priestley, the district’s careers and transitions co-ordinator.
The eight-week Tourism and Leadership Exploration Program, or TALE, features four weeks of training followed by a four-week placement at a local tourism-related company. It started this week.
This is the third summer for TALE, a partnership between West Coast Adventure College and the school district, said West Coast education director Phil Foster. There is no cost to students, but there is a limit of 14 participants.
The goal is to help students get on a path to a career, Foster said.
“They’re doing a lot more to get the kids to look at something they’ll be interested in doing later, so they can make choices with school classes that they’re going to take for graduation and help them on the road to where they’re going.”
Foster said he has been in the adventure-tourism field for years, joking that some don’t consider it a real career.
“My mother still asked me when I was 50 when I was going to get a real job.”
The program is based in the former Uplands Elementary School and branches out into many Capital Regional District parks.
Students get an overview of tourism before embarking on skills training, which includes first-aid certification, and learning about leadership, communication and how to lead groups in the wilderness.
At the end of their training, students run a twohour hiking tour in a local park area for a group of “clients” made up of classmates and instructors from the college.
The students are required to volunteer for 100 hours with adventure-tourism companies in August, Foster said. “A number of them actually get hired on when they finish, because they’re finishing their 100 hours when a lot of students are going back to college and university.”
Businesses involved include whale-watching companies Prince of Whales, Orca Spirit and Eagle Wing as well as kayak outfits.
Beyond its summer course, the college has postsecondary training for adventure guides, Foster said.
“They go into the adventure-tourism industry basically all over the world,” he said. “They go into white-water rafting, whale watching.”
Foster said he has considerable background as an educator, much of it beyond school walls.
“I’ve taught at universities and colleges, but I’ve also always taught in the outdoors. I’ve been mountain guiding, sea-kayak guiding, sailing.”
The college staff is also very experienced, Foster said.
Every instructor at the college is still active in the industry, he said.
Priestley said the program can complement the outdoor leadership classes and outdoor clubs at several high schools. She said offering students work experience is a “huge component.”