Nathaniel Niebergall says his experience at the River, Ocean and Mountain School was invaluable — he’d recommend spending a semester outdoors to anyone.
“It’s just an experience that you can’t really get anywhere else,” he said. “All these activities that you get to do in the span of a semester.
ROAMS is an outdoor leadership program provided through School District 69. Students don’t have an orthodox schedule — they participate in what they call “adventure education” for the duration of their fall semester. The Global ROAMS program, which just finished up its third year, builds onto that program – it’s offered to younger grades and aims to have a 50/50 split of international and local students.
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Niebergall, who is in Grade 11 at Ballenas Secondary School, spent last semester in the program. For him, learning in an environment other than a classroom was a great way to connect with other students.
“It’s definitely different, it’s really great the camaraderie that we build and the friendships,” he said. “Just being able to work together.”
Heather Buckingham started the program three years ago and is the lead instructor. She echoed Niebergall — she said especially having the intentional split of international and local students offers the participants a way to connect that they might not get to outside of the program.
“These kinds of programs are so amazing for students, it gives them real opportunities to learn hands-on life skills that you don’t get in a classroom,” she said. “The students all get really close to each other, they really form a team — kind of like a family.”
For Niebergall, the main highlight was their first trip — a four-day outing rock climbing at the Skaha Bluffs.
“We brought all the gear from school, we went rock climbing, so that was really fun,” he said.
Buckingham said the program offers a great introduction to students who might be interested in an outdoor-based career, while also getting to keep up with their academics.
“Pretty sweet to get some academic credits and spend a lot of time outdoors doing kind of introductions to a lot of really cool outdoor activities,” she said. “[We get] outside on the lake and do some paddleboarding, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, we go white water rafting, we go surfing, rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing – pretty much anything you can think of.”
They also aim to connect their outdoor activities with current events and timely conversation about the environment.
“It’s a lot of fun but it’s introducing them to things that make them care about our natural environment,” said Buckingham. “A big part of the program is about environmental science and talking about climate change and water issues.”
Anyone interested in the program can ask counsellors at their school or email Buckingham at hbuckingham@sd69.bc.ca. Any student in the school district is eligible. There’s an application form to fill out and a $500 fee. No experience in the outdoors is necessary and support exists for students who may not be able to pay the full price.