Back Outdoors

2/8/2023

“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand in the cold.” Aristotle’s quote might resonate with some of our Grade 10 students, who spent part of last week snowshoeing through some very cold temperatures and spending the night in expedition tents. One student explained how much they enjoyed waking up and looking outside the tent at a picture-perfect scene (I think they actually described it as “Windows screensaver worthy”).

If there had been a competition for the coldest Winter Outdoor Education location, the trophy would have gone to our Grade 8 students. Despite the temperatures, the group still managed to skate, ski and sightsee in Ottawa and Saint-Donat. At the other end of the thermometer, our Grade 12 students applied sunscreen to protect themselves from Costa Rica’s intense heat as they rafted, jungle trekked and surfed.

It’s been a while since we sent the whole school out for outdoor education in January. As you can imagine, this is a huge undertaking -- organizing almost 500 students, 65 staff members and expert guides in Ontario, Quebec and abroad is no easy feat. However, it was absolutely worth it! Our Outdoor Education program offers our students extraordinary experiences and opportunities to step out of their comfort zones in ways that many would never think possible.

From ice climbing and back-country skiing to quinzee building and tubing, I’m thoroughly impressed by the physical challenges Greenwood students took on last week. I’m just as impressed with how students navigated social and emotional challenges like being away from home and building new relationships. Testing our abilities helps us grow, and I know our students will be stronger for having embraced these challenges.

Our alumni speak passionately about how our Outdoor Education program has shaped them as people. While we are very proud of our OE offerings and the positive impacts they make on our students, we are also continuously refining these programs and looking for ways to make them even better. Even before our Winter OE excursions had departed, research was already underway for Fall Outdoor Education programming for the coming school year. We look forward to sharing the trips in store for Fall 2023 with you in the spring.

Tomorrow, families of students in Grades 7-11 will receive their enrolment agreements for the 2023-2024 academic year. It will be a groundbreaking year for Greenwood (literally) as we begin work on a new multi-use recreation facility that will open up a myriad of possibilities for our students. The coming year will also bring us more opportunities to learn, to grow and to innovate as a community. I hope your family will be a part of the exciting journey ahead.

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Greenwood College School

443 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto, ON M4S 2L8
Tel: 416 482 9811

We acknowledge with gratitude the Ancestral lands upon which our main campus is situated. These lands are the Ancestral territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishinabek and the Wendake. The shared responsibility of this land is honoured in the Dish with One Spoon Treaty and as settlers, we strive to care for the land, the waters, and all creatures in the spirit of peace. We are responsible for respecting and supporting the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. When away from this campus we vow to be respectful to the land by protecting and honouring it. We will create relationships with the people and the land we may visit by understanding the territories we enter and the nations who inhabit them.