Grade 10 Adventure Days Provide End of Year Fun

June 17, 2022

Academics

GNS

On June 9, we headed out to Gowlland Tod Provincial Park. The weather that day was less than ideal, with 100% chance of rain, cloudy skies, and low temperature. Nevertheless, we trudged onto the bus and headed for Tod Inlet for a forest adventure. There were three stations: canoeing, “forest-bathing” and camp games. The water of Tod Inlet was surprisingly warm, due to an under water current, which made canoeing very enjoyable. The second activity was where students got to explore the forest at their own leisure and meditate, something Ms. Thomson called “forest bathing.” The last activity was camp games, a series of mini-games consisting of “poodle basher,” “leap frog” and “tug of war.” By then, the rain had turned the dirt into mud, so students were sliding faster than they were running. To finish off the extremely wet day, half the Grade 10s jumped into the ocean. There was lots of splashing and laughing as the other half of the Grade 10s and the teachers looked on in bewilderment. As the students loaded back onto the bus, it was split between the semi soaked and fully soaked students. Despite the dismal forecast, it turned out to be a glorious day!

On Monday, we set off for Cattle Point and Willow Beach. There was a huge improvement in the weather from Friday, except that it was really really windy—almost to the point of “gale warning” windy. Grade 10s started the day off by performing service at Cattle Point, by pulling out crow garlic, an invasive species that smells a lot like regular garlic (but it isn’t edible). Even though 68 students worked collectively for an hour, we weren’t even close to eradicating all the crow garlic! There will definitely be enough for another service opportunity. For relaxation, students walked to Willows Beach for a fun afternoon, with sand castle building and fort building, volleyball and spikeball.

On Tuesday our final adventure took us to Beacon Hill Park and Fisherman’s Wharf. The weather was really nice—perfect for an exciting adventure day led by Ms. Easton! She had four cups of coffee in the morning thus the reason why she greeted everyone so energetically at 8 a.m. in the morning. We kicked the day off by geocaching at Beacon Hill park, then did a scavenger hunt through Downtown Victoria which ended at Fisherman’s Wharf. The group had more than a reasonable amount of ice cream—probably a week’s worth in one day as some bought a shake and a cone at Beacon Hill and another lemonade and cone at Fisherman’s Wharf. Nonetheless, it was perfect weather for never ending ice cream. We finished the day with a fun bouncy castle back at GNS.

This series of experiential field trips would not have been possible without the help of Ms. Thomsom, James Taylor, Ms. Nielsen, Mr. Richmond, Ms. Owens, Senor Reeves, Mr. Stanley, Mr. Webbs, Ms. McKerlich, Ms. Simard, Mr. Carlson, Mr. Osborne, Ms. Smook, Mr. Palm, Ms. Easton, Ms. Thijs, Ms. Sicotte, Ms. Als, and Mme Turner, as well as the organization of many others behind the scenes.

It was a really fun way to conclude the year! Thanks to the tireless effort of countless teachers and staff, Grade 10s were able to finish off the school year and begin our summer in the best way possible!