Student Mentor Program

At the end of April I headed up north to Hartley Bay as part of King Pacific Lodge's Student Mentor program which I had been doing for the last 4 years. In this program all of the students at the school are interviewed and then take part in a tourism program which I develop and deliver to them. From there four students are chosen to work at King Pacific Lodge. There they will work in areas of their interest and will be matched up with a mentor at the lodge. The program has been very successful and has created employment for the youth of the village. This year I created a small adventure leadership course for the grade 10-12 students at the school. Within this program they received their Flatwater Kayaking Skill certification with Paddle Canada. The 11 students did an outstanding job. They learned new strokes, practiced wet exits and performed rescues on each other. I was very proud of them as they battled through their fears and gained confidence by the minute. The last part of our course was a boat ride up into a stunning inlet north of the village which is a place of strong tradition and an area of food gathering. On the trip we saw mountain goats feeding up high on the ridges and bears wandering the estuaries feeding on sedge grass below. The course was a big success and I will be heading up in the fall to deliver the Level 1 certification to the grade 10-12s and the Flatwater course to the grade 7-9's. Congratulations to all of the students and thanks to Cam and Eva for having me at their house and to Marvin for help with the kayaks and the fantastic boat tour.