News Archive
All Aboard for Beyond the Gates
Our Grade 9s took to the seas this week as the Beyond the Gates program enjoyed a series of excursions aboard the tall ship Providence.
Built in Denmark in 1903, the ship originally served as a civilian vessel. It was chartered by the Royal Danish Navy during the Second World War, then commandeered by the German Navy. Repatriated by Denmark after the war, it returned to civilian life. It first sailed to the Pacific Northwest in 1979, then worked as a cargo vessel in the Caribbean in the 1980s. The Providence returned to BC in 1988, started working as a charter ship in 2005, and now offers both experiential adventures and cargo services throughout the Salish Sea.
The mission of the Beyond the Gates program is to introduce our Grade 9 students to southern Vancouver Island away from the Shawnigan campus. For this expedition, social studies teachers took the lead due to curricular tie-ins with social studies — particularly the fur trade and colonization of southwestern BC — although instructors from other departments were involved as well. The students sailed in four separate groups, each comprised of 22 students and two teachers.
They departed with captain Simon Fawkes from Mill Bay in perfect weather and sailed for two hours across the Satellite Channel to Russell Island, off the south coast of Saltspring Island and part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve. They dropped anchor and spent an hour on Russell Island, learning the history of the Island, which included settlement by Hawaiians in the 1880s.
During the voyage, the students learned knot-tying, raised and lowered the sails, and had the opportunity to lie on the net under the bowsprit, two at a time.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
