Go Wild Schools
Looking for Go Wild – Schools, for Grade 9 to 12 classes? Stay on this page.
Go Wild is a five-day wilderness program with an additional preparation component tailored to the needs of the participants. It’s for Grades 9 to 12 and takes place during the school year.Teachers: Ask about Go Wild for your class.
Every secondary school in the Kootenays is welcome to ask about Go Wild for its students. In all Go Wild School programs, Wildsight’s professional educators will lead students and teachers into a local mountain range for five days of wilderness camping and leadership learning.
Students and teachers will work with local experts in ecology, business and leadership. Students get to build their leadership skills, increase their understanding of local issues, and come away inspired to become more involved in their communities.
Each Go Wild program is community-specific. It is experiential and uses youth-initiated presentations and inter-generational mentorship to explore local issues and to discover do-able solutions.
A bit of background
Wildsight’s goal is to help instill an environmental ethic into all aspects of our communities. We promote the maintenance of a healthy, livable environment for all — leading to a more sustainable future.
Go Wild encourages involvement of youth from diverse backgrounds and with a range of wilderness skill levels. A Go Wild program is offered to fifteen students from each secondary school in the Kootenays. Three mentor/facilitators, including one of the participating school’s teachers, lead.
In 2007, Wildsight successfully piloted the program with four secondary schools: Mount Baker in Cranbrook, Selkirk in Kimberley, Golden Secondary, and David Thompson in Invermere. In 2008, we delivered full programs to these schools and are planning to expand to new schools in the Columbia Basin in 2009-2010.
Go Wild addresses several priorities:
- Youth leadership, engagement and personal development opportunities;
- Community connection, teamwork and support development;
- Wilderness skill development for students that live in an abundant and endangered wilderness area;
- Increased wilderness and environmental awareness and stewardship;
- Teacher training opportunities in experiential, youth engaging, environmental, community building and place-based education.
Teacher resources:
Teachers: Ask about Go Wild for your class.
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