After months of bottle drives, cookie dough sales, and bake sales, the Grade 11s and some of the Grade 12s departed Saturday, April 12th for a weeklong trip to Vancouver and Victoria. On the agenda for the first day was a visit to Science World in the morning and a tour of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in the afternoon.
At BCIT students were given a guided tour of the campus by two students and saw both the trades and business program facilities. Day Two saw the students practice their skills on Skytrain and public transit. Melissa Brooks and Elijah Mecham bravely used Skytrain to find Douglas College and after a few hiccups due to rush hour everyone else managed to arrive at the University of BC (UBC). Again, the students received an excellent tour by two 4th year students who showed them things such as the UBC gym, dorms, and many of the programs UBC offers.
After walking around the expansive UBC campus, the afternoon was somewhat slower paced as the students visited the UBC Museum of Anthropology. There the group met up with local Clyde Tallio, who is doing much of his research on Nuxalk Culture. Clyde helped tour the students around showing them the many Nuxalk artifacts in the museum’s collection.
Wednesday saw everyone up early to make the trip from downtown Vancouver to the ferry terminal for the ride over to Victoria. After checking in at the hotel, lunch was an adventure with everyone trying Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Dish). Everyone then walked over to the BC Legislature for a tour. Later many of the students checked out the Bay Center Mall in search of grad dresses and shoes!
Thursday was the last full day in Victoria and students this time visited the University of Victoria where they were given an extensive tour of the UVIC Longhouse and the Elder-in-Residence Program and while there ran into two very excited professors. The first, a very entertaining British woman, entertained the students by showing off the world’s largest microscope (floor to ceiling!). The second, ironically, the group learned was the nephew to Bella Coola local, Gideon Schuetze (small world!) After the UVIC tour everyone raced off to Camosun College in the afternoon where the highlight of the tour was seeing the Pacific Institute for Sport.
Before heading back to Vancouver for the night, students took in the Royal BC Museum prior to boarding the ferry. Mr. Baillie was very proud that of the three vehicles he got off the ferry and to the hotel the quickest (but then he was relying on his GPS!). Ethiopian food was on the agenda for dinner and appeared to be a hit especially with Jordan Hall who helped polish off three plates of it!
The trip was fun but by the time Saturday rolled around everyone was ready for the long trek home and looking forward to a few days of rest over the remaining days of the Easter long weekend. The students who took part in the trip were: Carrigan Tallio, Melissa Brooks, Kasey Karran, Ashley Moore, Kelly Harrison, Dylan Tuck, Elijah Mecham, David Brooks, Jordan Hall, and Jacob Gascoyne.
The trip would not have been possible without the hard work of many people: Mr. Thoms for organizing all the fundraisers, booking the activities of the trip and for driving, Mr. Baillie and Crystal Tallio also for driving and helping chaperone the trip. Thank you also to the many community members who donated to the fundraisers that made this trip possible!