Created 10 years ago by School District 47, Jade Coast Discovery program provides opportunities for students who might otherwise be left out.
Hugh Prichard, director of Powell Lake Outdoor Learning Centre, said the school district identified the need to create a learning experience for kids who have difficulty in a traditional high-school structure.
“I wasn’t doing well in school,” said 15-year-old grade 10 student Isaac Peitz, “because I’m not good at focusing on certain subjects. [Jade Coast] is teaching me better life skills to help me become a better person.”
The Brooks Secondary School program, which uses the outdoor learning centre for many of its classes, was recently awarded a $20,000 grant from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
Prichard said the money will be used to build out the adventure-based, outside learning component by adding value to what already exists in areas such as teaching methods, equipment and backcountry learning.
The program connects academic content with experiential learning through outdoor education and community-based work.
“It is a model of the new BC education plan where students are provided with real, hands-on, experiential education and receive course credits,” said Jay Yule, school district superintendent of schools. “It provides an outlet for students who thrive in a different learning environment and gives them confidence to complete high school”
According to Prichard, Jade Coast is unlike a traditional high-school setting, which can involve complicated peer connections, and students scattering between timetables, classes and teachers.
In Jade Coast, 11 students stay together with one teacher and lead educator Chris Bratseth.
“The big message is that students within the program have the ability to fully engage in school,” said Bratseth. “It allows them to be happy at school, which is paramount to their own well-being. We know from research it leads to greater academic achievement.”
That view resonates with 14-year-old Cheyenne Dominic, who is in grade nine. “I started and didn’t think it would be perfect,” she said, “but it’s actually really fun and I think kids learn better when they’re having fun.”
Jade Coast is not all fun in the outdoors; students spend two days a week at Brooks for academic work. Four classes are included within the program: physical education, planning, leadership and English.
“We’re doing English, but in our own unique ways,” said Peitz. “We talk to each other and go through it together and everyone does it at their own pace.”
Bratseth said the students are learning writing standards for grade nine and 10; the goal is to develop their capacity for communicating effectively in written and verbal forms.
Peitz said going outdoors and trying something else rather than “sitting in a box and being told what to do” is a unique experience and feels he has grown as a person because of it.
“It’s great that we get to be outdoors more than inside,” said Peitz. “We go out in the community two or three times a week and try new experiences.”
According to Bratseth, Jade Coast students are passionate about the outdoors and he hopes they graduate with outdoor certifications and skills needed for their futures, something Dominic is optimistic about as well.
“The program is extremely helpful for kids who don’t do well in classrooms,” said Dominic. “I’m actually learning things I never knew, like how to take care of myself.”
Bratseth says he has also learned from the students, a lesson that underlines why the program is a success.
“The students give me a sense of inspiration in my own teaching,” he said, “a sense of adventure and a sense of connecting to a small group of students that makes me feel happy every day.”
