High School Outdoor Pursuits Course

Kris Gallagher gives pointers on how to adjust trim to  keep the bow down to reduce wind resistance
Kris Gallagher gives pointers on how to adjust trim to keep the bow down to reduce wind resistance
The Outdoor Pursuits course is a hands-on course offered by the Southern Victoria High School in Perth-Andover with a classroom component. It is designed to introduce or reconnect students with things and activities that happen outside of a computer screen, television or a handheld device.
 
The main units of study include canoeing, camping, hiking, biking, orienteering, fitness & leadership, snowshoeing, conservation & stewardship, knots & lashes, winter camping and ecology.
 

For many of the students, this is their first experience in these outdoor pursuits and they are finding them all to be truly enriching activities.
 

I happened upon a group just as they were preparing to launch the canoes on the river by the waterfront park in Andover.
 

Instructor Kris Gallagher was in charge of the group, helping the kids get situated and giving pointers on staying straight, adjusting trim and paddling techniques. He says that he particularly enjoys the canoeing and water safety courses…that seeing kids go from trepidation at getting into a tippy canoe to near mastery is always a treat!
 

He jokes with the kids that, as Canadians, we might feel like we were born to c’nu, but there’s a big difference between c’nuin and paddling. And at the end of the course, they know just what he means!

Stephanie Kelley

The kids were careful to get balanced before they took off!
The kids were careful to get balanced before they took off!
It was a bit windy but an otherwise glorious day to canoe
It was a bit windy but an otherwise glorious day to canoe

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