If you’re a student who prefers walking in the forest to sitting in a classroom, a new course at Centennial secondary might be for you.
Starting in January 2021, 28 students will be the first in the new Experiential and Environmental Studies Academy at the Coquitlam school.
The academy combines six credit courses along with leadership, first aid and canoe training, according to sponsor teacher Hayley Melvin.
“We’re seeing quite a few applications,” said Melvin, who will be teaching the course with another teacher. “We’re seeing who is the right fit for the program.”
The inquiry-based course will be taught 25% in a classroom and 75% outdoors, and will include camping trips, field study at locations such as Mundy Park, and work with local hatcheries, such as Mossom Creek Hatchery in Port Moody, which hosts Centennial’s salmon club.
Melvin imagines a day spent in a park learning about native plants and invasive species, and doing a weed pull, then a camping trip where ecological issues are discussed over roasting marshmallows.
When she was a girl, Melvin said, her most memorable school experiences took place on trips, team events and outdoor activities.
“I kind of wondered, ‘Why can’t every day be like that? What’s the limiting factor there?’”. And she thought the classroom walls might be the problem.
Thus, Experiential and Environmental Studies (EES) Academy students will spend very little time in the classroom.
Instead, they’ll go on trips, meet with Indigenous groups, such as the local Kwikwetlem First Nation, and learn how to canoe.
“The program is really geared to the student that is looking for an opportunity to learn in an alternative location and in an alternative way,” said Melvin, who developed the program after taking a nature-based and place-conscious practices program at SFU.
Recently, SD43 trustees approved the course, for which students will pay $570 to cover costs.
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This isn’t the first inquiry- or nature-based program offered in Tri-City schools. Suwa’lkh School, an alternative program in Coquitlam, has outdoor elements, as does the long-running COAST program at Gleneagle secondary, while the Inquiry Hub has self-paced learning, where students work on a project of their choosing. As well, elementary, middle and secondary schools incorporate field studies and outdoor lessons.
Melvin said the new Centennial course is also based on a popular experiential course that was at the school for many years.
She said she hopes students who take the program come away with a better understanding of the local ecology, environmental issues and ways to tackle climate change, among other topics.
