Take a Hike - Alumni Event at Jericho Beach Club
Nestled into several British Columbia cities and towns you may come across an alternative high school called Take a Hike. It’s an outdoor-education based program that has been expanding rapidly over the past few years (so far 5 and counting), though the program originally started in South Vancouver almost twenty years ago.
The students come from varying backgrounds, but for whatever reason, they’ve found themselves outside the main school system and have landed in this supportive and qualified program. Besides education, its format is designed to teach them life skills, support their mental health, family dynamics, employment preparation and expose them to the outdoors as a place to gain confidence and overcome adversity.
While most days are spent in a one-room school situation, where the staff and the students are constants and become a tight-knit community, it’s a unique experience where students are plucked out of their lives one day each week to explore the outdoors. The schedule sees them skiing, hiking, biking, paddling, kayaking, skateboarding, etc. Three times a year, the classes embark on multi-day trips that span from 4-10 days and are requirements for graduation but also essential for bonding and therapeutic breakthroughs.
Each class is staffed with a teacher, a youth and family worker, and a therapist, who work collectively with an outdoor education facilitator to support each student on their journey to graduation. The program has a foundation that raises money for supporting some of the staff positions, has phenomenal staff & volunteers, and some of Vancouver’s best business elite sitting on their board.
It’s a school that has seen much success through sheer determination and doesn’t want to forget the alumni that have passed through. I was lucky enough to have been invited to shoot one of the Alumni Reunions that happened in Vancouver, BC this summer. Many stories, faces, teachers, staff and volunteers were there.
Thanks for having me and all the work that has, and is being, done!
~lou
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If you’d like to donate, volunteer or get involved in any way, you can reach out to this worth-while program via their website: https://www.takeahikefoundation.org/
