Camp Elphinestone, YMCA Camp
Outdoor Education Camp
Gibsons, BC – Sunshine Coast

3 Week Overview

Week 1: Shadowing of Camp Counselors – Activities have varied throughout the week

Activities: Archery, kayaking, canoeing, high-ropes, low-ropes, orienteering, beach exploring, fire building, shelter building, team-building, camp fun, skit-in-a-bag, evening fires

Week 2: Monday – Pro-D Day activities
Tuesday – Friday – Work Project TBD

Week 3: Finishing Work Project, camp activities (helping with schools at camp)

Week 1: Shadowing of camp counselors

With a school group the day schedule goes like this:

8am: Breaky
9:15-12: Activities
12-1: Lunch
1-5: Activities
5-6: Dinner
6-9: Activities
9: Snack
Bed by 930pm

Day 1 am: Camp tour with Aaron – went on a long walk/hike all around the camp. I saw where all the different activities happen, where campers stay, all the rec. halls, dining hall, and beach activities to familiarize myself with camp for the next three weeks

Day 1 pm: Archery with Jag and Westerman School Group

Day 2: I was paired up with Emily for a new group of kids coming in from Surrey Centre School.

Activities: Picked up kids at ferry, walked back to camp for introductions and housekeeping rules, tour with kids, icebreakers – get to know the kids, kayaking, get kids into cabins, team-building, campfire and songs for the evening

Day 3: Scheduled to be with Dana – 17 kids

Activities: We began the day with kayaking and fire building. After lunch we went for a nature hike. Along the way there were numbered stops for plant identification. Then the kids had free time for fishing and swimming.

Just before dinner I went with Emily’s group again to high-ropes for some balancing and climbing 20 ft above ground!

After dinner there was group game with the whole school group and then a campfire before snack and bed!

Day 4: I had the opportunity to hang out with Sea To Sky outdoor ed school. There were 2 other UBC TC’s with them; it was nice to see some familiar faces. They had grade 11 students with them from Earl Marriot Secondary.

All the teachers and kids go by nature names so today I was Sunshine.

Activities: Wake up kids with a mariachi band!

1^st activity – Where do you stand?

This activity is set up like a grid. Strung from one tree to another was a rope. Along the rope were topics like homophobia, sexism, forest protection, education, and homelessness. Strung along another tree span perpendicular were action words (I guess you could say) such as speak out, get more educated, volunteer, join an organization. The objective was to pick a topic that meant something to you, or that resonated with you and choose and action…where you stand. Then each person would position himself or herself on the grid. After everyone had done so people shared their stance on the topic and how they felt, why they positioned themselves where they did.

It lead to a sharing session and then individual reflection.

There was a GAP time (free time)

From there we moved into lunch, but it was a Global Lunch (80/20) – simulating the 80% of the world population that doesn’t get a choice in the food they eat, if they get to eat at all, and the 20% that have a choice of the food they eat for every meal.

The students definitely felt anger and frustration towards the activity. In the end we fed them!

After lunch we had another GAP time to get ready for a canoe paddle. The weather wasn’t great so we were out too long, but it held off long enough for some fun on the water!

They moved into The Wonderbox – a seal bone puzzle, and the to dinner. After dinner was story time and campfire time.

I said my good byes after dinner at 7:45 to head back and reflect on the day.

Day 5: Day off

What did I learn?

I learned that camp counselors don’t have it easy! They are extremely busy each and every day. Currently they are just working with schools and only work 8am – 9pm, Mon-Fri. However in the summer months they may be with a group of kids for 10 days straight, day and night (because they are required to be in their cabins with them as well).

Working with Sea to Sky was a nice introduction to the Outdoor Ed curriculum model. I got some great ideas of ways I can approach serious topics and issues in our society linking them with critical thinking and reflection and integrated them in the Home Economics subjects.

How easily can you transfer some of the things you learned in your long practicum to this placement?

This biggest difference from my long practicum to this is that I am out of the classroom. I am also not following a curriculum, however there are still backbone lessons to all the activities done at the camp.

I am also in a very different field moving from home economics (foods & nutrition) to outdoor ed.

So far I have found it quite easy to transfer my classroom skills into the “nature” classroom. I love being outside and so that transition hasn’t been difficult. I think the focus of classroom management has helped me here so far at camp. Keeping kids engaged and on task without the walls can sometimes be challenging, however I’ve noticed more students thriving in this environment than struggling.

I think that most things can be brought out of the classroom, and this type of placement is solidifying that notion for me.