Hello everyone! It’s time for another blog post, but this time, instead of reflecting on a project, I’ll be looking back on the trip we recently went on! 

What type of trip do you ask? This field trip wasn’t just your typical one-day field trip to the aquarium, or to an art exhibit or something like that. This was an 4 day, overnight field study, which takes learning outside the classroom. We went to Loon Lake, which is actually only in Maple Ridge, so not that far away, but the grounds of the camp/retreat centre were completely isolated from the busy roads and the city. On the day of our departure, we piled up all of our luggage into a separate bus, and then the grade 9’s and grade 8’s filled two school buses to drive to Loon Lake. My mind was racing with thoughts: Who was going to be in my cabin? What was this place going to look like? What were we going to be eating? What were the showers going to be like? What were we going to do? I was nervous and excited at the same time, because I had no clue what to expect. That first couple of hours were a little bit chaotic, because everyone was anxious or buzzing with excitement & energy after having been on the bus for an hour or so. 

The first thing I did was take pictures of the lake because it was so clear, and it was reflecting the sky like a mirror. The photos I took on the first day of our trip were of the lake, and they are my favourite photos I took this whole trip. Look at this stunning lake picture I took:

Throughout this 4 day learning advance at Loon Lake, every learner filled in a book creator with the help of some daily writing and photo prompts. I thought this was a fun way to document the activities and learnings in a nice way, and this way, it’s easier to share with everyone. Please make sure to check out my awesome Loon Lake book creator!

This was called a learning advance instead of retreat, because we never stop learning! I think this name suited our field study to Loon Lake, because I learnt a lot about my classmates and friends. I was able to develop my core competency of collaborating with others while doing battle archery and forest laser tag. During these activities, your team had to come up with a game plan or strategy to be able to succeed. I was also able to practice my personal awareness & responsibility, in order to make sure I was ready for the next activity and making good decisions.

I find it so cool that we were able to do a trip, despite beeing in covid-19 pandemic. I loved this experience; it was like school summer camp, in a way. I was able to adapt really well to a schedule already made for us. What would’ve made my experience even more fun would be a high ropes course or maybe even a zip line. If I were to relive this experience, I’d try to make others feel as comfortable as I felt. I could do this by talking to them when they’re unsure where they should be or if they’re feeling a little homesick. And, despite taking quite a few photos on this trip, I’m not sure we’ll ever go back there, so I wish I took more photos of the place and probably more photos of me and my classmates, because I only have a few of those.

I truly enjoyed this learning advance and I can’t wait to go on more field studies in the future!

Make sure to check out my book creator too!