New scholarship sends students on wilderness journey

Times Reporter

 

Going on an outdoor adventure can be a dream for some people. Thanks to Brett Wilson and Prairie Merchant Corporation, it may be a dream come true for a few Strathmore High School, SHS, Grade 10 and 11 students. 

Wilson is sponsoring two $5,000 Outward Bound scholarships over the next five years. Outward Bound is an outdoor adventure company founded in Europe. Wilson himself had taken an Outward Bound course when he was younger, and he said it was life changing. 

“It was confidence building, it was inspiring. It taught me a lot about what I could or couldn’t do, and it turned out I could do a lot more than I realized,” said Wilson. 

 He said there are two reasons why he is sponsoring the scholarship; one is because he does a lot of charity work in Calgary and had realized he hadn’t done much in his hometown, North Battleford, Saskatchewan. He began running a series of programs, including an Outward Bound scholarship, in North Battleford. 

“I looked around and thought about other places where we’re doing business as an organization, and I’m doing some real estate development in the community (Strathmore), and there is no greater investment than the youth of a community,” said Wilson.

“So we decided to redirect some of what we’re doing with Outward Bound into the Strathmore area where it might have the greatest impact on changing the lives of a couple of kids every year.”

The reason Grade 10 and 11 students are the only ones eligible is so they can come back to the school to bring some of the skills they have learned.

Out of the scholarship, $4,000 is for Outward Bound and $1,000 is for travel and equipment and anything else that the kids might need. Students had until April 15 to submit a 250-word essay based on why, and how, an Outward Bound trip would benefit them.

“So there is absolutely no academic requirement for it at all, it’s based on student need,” said Karen Galandy, a guidance counselor at SHS.  

“A student who thinks they need a change in their lives, a student who would like to participate in this kind of event and who is ready to go out and have a change in perspective. It’s kind of exciting.” 

Anyone can go on an Outward Bound trip, and it’s a world-renowned program. There are a couple of schools in Alberta, Canmore Collegiate and Oilfields in Black Diamond, which both have Outward Bound programs that run out of their schools.  

“It’s a growing up experience. It’s going out on your own, for many kids for the first time ever in their lives. They have no parents with them, they have no friends with them, they’re in a group of people but it’s a group of people they have never met before,” said Galandy.

“It’s a really maturing experience as well, and so we’re hopeful that it’s going to be students who maybe need to make a change in their lives and this would be kind of the doorway to do this.”

On YouTube there is a video called, Outward Bound Canada-Thank you, Brett Wilson, where a couple of kids talk about having the experience of going on the trip. The trip lasts for two to three weeks and takes place in the summer. After the Easter break SHS will announce who the two students are.