We were gone again!
That’s right! PLP 9 has already gone on two field studies this year. But this time, something was a bit different…
Unlike the other field studies I’ve been on in the past in the PLP program, the most recent one at Loon Lake wasn’t lead by the PLP teachers. The Loon Lake site is on a UBC property in the middle of a forest about an hour drive from Seycove. Upon arrival, we met up with the main three Pinnacle Pursuit [link] employees that would be leading our group throughout the week. Jonathan, or Jono for short is the CEO and founder of Pinnacle Pursuits, and was the leader of our group.
Over the week, we did many workshops, activities, and challenges including rock climbing, archery, ropes courses, and more. We learned about leadership, trust, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, communication, and much more. Some of my favourite things we did were rock climbing (Where I got to the top of the wall in the third fastest time ever!), the ropes course, and fort building. Some things however, were harder for me, and put me out of my comfort zone. The most obvious example of this is the trust falls. We started small, with a group of people pushing me around in a circle. But eventually, we stacked a chair on top of a table and fell of of that. That was very scary for me, but, in the end, I did end up doing it.
One of the challenges was to build a shelter using sticks that could protect my entire group from the elements. We looked at our location and decided what frame would work best. We worked great as a team, and our shelter fit more than 3 times the necessary amount of people. We divided up the necessary tasks with some people gathering materials, and others finding a location to build. Then we all came together to build it. We used good Teamwork and communication skills and worked together to get the job done.
At the end of the trip, (almost) all of our parents came for a closing event where we showed them some of the learning we had done over the week, and shared a “Transfer Goal”. A Transfer Goal is a goal that I set for myself based on the experiences and learning we accomplished over the week. My Transfer Goal was to work on being comfortable with being uncomfortable. I set this as my goal because I was really uncomfortable with the trust fall, but after I did it, I felt relieved and proud that I’d gone outside of my comfort zone. I’m glad that I pushed myself to be able to see what I’m capable of achieving.
All in all, I really enjoyed this experience. I learned a lot about emotions, communication, teamwork, my classmates, and most importantly, me! Building these skills will help no matter what career I choose. I will certainly come back to many of the worksheets we did over the week for help in the future.