North America) and the University of British Columbia Farm, as well as many other places. These field days help to reinforce the skills learned on longer trips as well as the curriculum being taught. When in the classroom, students complete half of the


English, Social Studies, Physical Education and Planning requirements. The TREK teachers have some flexibility in their teaching, and strive to relate their lessons to their mission of education for sustainability. In Social Studies for example, students have calculated their ecological footprint, performed a product life-cycle analysis, watched and inter- preted Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, examined case studies of globalization and completed an independent video project creatively examining consumerism and its effects on youth. In all aspects of the TREK program, responsibility,


community and collaboration are underlying themes. Stu- dents are given some power and control over their education, more freedom to choose how to complete assignments, and more control over their marks, as self-assessment is an inte- gral part of TREK’s evaluation. The approach is much more student-centered and collaborative than that of a traditional classroom, and group work is the norm, not the exception.


Service learning In all aspects of the TREK program,


responsibility, community and collaboration are underlying themes.


eight days. These take place throughout the province and include backpacking, backcountry skiing, winter camping, kayaking, canoeing and bicycle touring. In addition to the four TREK teachers, the program hires professional guides for each trip, many of whom have worked with the program for years. Students are responsible for menu planning, food shopping and cooking, as well as maintaining and cleaning their gear, self-assessing their performance in the field and keeping a journal throughout the trip. In addition to the backcountry trips, students complete


a three-week round of essential outdoor skills. Under the guidance of their teachers and hired guides, they learn the basics of rock climbing, canoeing, orienteering, sea kayak- ing and bicycling. It is a rewarding and intensive period of the term, with every day bringing some new challenge. Another important part of the program are field trips,


which tend to be either related to outdoor skills (stove train- ing, snow shelters, tent set-up, orienteering, map and com- pass workshops, tarp skills, etc.) or part of the Social Stud- ies curriculum. In the past, students have visited the water reservoirs for the city of Vancouver, which lie in a protected watershed wilderness, a water filtration plant, local recycling and transfer stations, the Vancouver landfill, shopping malls, a rendering plant, the Burns Bog (the largest raised bog in


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Service learning is stressed as part of the Social Studies curriculum at TREK. Students are required to complete at least 20 hours of community service over the course of their TREK term, as well as volunteering many hours at TREK fundraisers (described below). A unique aspect of this part of the program is the degree of involvement of the TREK parents, who are asked to volunteer at the TREK fundrais- ers for a minimum of ten hours. Perhaps not surprisingly, many parents do much more and are eager to become more involved in their son or daughter’s education.


Fundraising


One of the major reasons that the TREK program has been successful over so many years is that it is financially self- sufficient. The school district pays the teachers’ salaries, provides a physical space for the program and covers stan- dard classroom equipment. It also covers the significant cost of insuring the TREK program. However, the district cannot begin to cover the program’s additional annual operating budget of approximately $125,000. The TREK program owns and maintains a 15-passenger bus, a full-sized school bus, more than 30 canoes and kayaks, dozens of pairs of telemark skis and boots, backpacks, sleeping bags, cooking equipment, snowshoes, rock-climbing gear and so on. For every backcountry trip, certified professional guides are hired to help maintain a staff-to-student ratio of one to six, one of the lowest among outdoor education programs. To help cover these program expenses, students must


pay a $550 tuition fee for which bursaries are available (see below). Beyond tuition fees, the program is sustained by three major fundraising events during the year in which every TREK student and parent participates. In the fall, the students raise pledge money and complete a bike-a-thon. Later in the year, the program hosts a movie night that is open to the general public, typically featuring films and


GREEN TEACHER 83


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