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PATHWAYS E ducation forCharacter private schoolwitha publicpurpose,” andour and integrity. We liketosay that“UCC isa sense ofresponsibility, compassion, honour character. The service program promotes a UCC wants its boys to turn into men of good primary gradesrightthrough tograduation. of community service projects starting in the Students atUCCareinvolved inawide variety minutes ofToronto. multi-day outdoor expedition within 30 , very fewofthemhave ever goneon a boys willhave gonecampinginnorthern .Although many of our because itallhappensintheshadow ofthe the magnificentBruceTrail. Thistripisunique Carolinian forestofsouthernOntarioalong Rattlesnake Point, andhikethroughthe limestone cliffsoftheNiagaraEscarpmentat River in spring flood, climb the sheer firsthandastheycanoetheCredit so closetohome. StudentsgettoseeOntario’s exposed tohow muchnaturalbeautythereis us. Duringthisjourney, thestudents are understanding ofthegreen spacesallaround is tohelpdeepenstudents’appreciationand One ofthemaingoalsGrade9program every activity, justinadifferentorder. a differentlocation.Every groupcompletes circuit, witheachgroupstartingandendingat UCC teachers. Thescheduleisstructuredina combination ofAdventureworks! staffand 13 boys pergroup.Eachgroupisledby a grade isdividedupintoninegroupsof11 to with Adventureworks! Associates. Theentire operate onitsown, soitisruninpartnership result, theprogramis too bigforUCCto students participate at the same time. As a To minimizedisruptionattheschool,all130 biking, hiking,orienteering,androckclimbing. include moving water canoeing,mountain and Grade9.Activities duringtheexpedition programming between SeniorKindergarten 60 days oftotaloutdooreducation Toronto. Thisweek istheculminationofover education programin Halton Region, west of students participateinaweek-long outdoor In Grade9,UpperCanadaCollege(UCC) by Bill Elgie, Ross MacLean and Rebecca Dykstra Building aTrail, BuildingCharacter composed of soft Queenstonshale, andas The Badlands area in southern Ontario is their love of the land. of their time and energy simply because of and developed by volunteers, peoplewhogive It was conceived andiscurrentlymaintained to Tobermory at the tip of the . ,runningfromQueenston The BruceTrail isapublicfootpathalongthe and staff. It was a match made in heaven! help to give in the form of 140 eager students runs alongtheCheltenhamBadlands. We had rehabilitate the section of the that (BTC). The Caledon Hills BTC needed help to from theCaledonHillsBruceTrail Club Adventureworks! gotintouchwithRoss McLean last fall when Dr. Kathy Haras from program, whichislateApril.Thatallchanged coincided withthetimingofourGrade9 never beenabletofindanidealprojectthat Club formany years. Untillastyear, we had we have wanted towork withtheBruceTrail Because thestudentshikeonBruceTrail, community and has the potential of being “cool.” contributes tothestudents’senseof students working togetherononetask project. Alarge-scaleprojectthathasall that whattheyaredoingisnotamake-work students needtobeactively engagedandfeel boys is both hands-on and significant. The An idealserviceprojectfornearly120 Grade9 Conservation. Conservation HaltonandCreditValley through. In past years we have partnered with something totheareatheyaretravelling Region, and the boys are able to give back and preserve thenaturalareas ofnorthHalton expedition area.Theseprojects helpprotect some groupororganizationoperatinginthe day doingenvironmentalservicework for adventure, all Grade 9 students spend half a As partofthisweek-long outdoor education belief. commitment toserviceisareflectionofthat Art credit: Jennifer Owens physical labour. motivated toundertakethree hoursof half dayattheBadlandsand werenotinitially would notseethetrailcompleted duringtheir completed withintheweek. Mostoftheboys and had astrong desire to see the trail already invested much into this endeavour could notbeoverlooked.Thevolunteershad 14-year-old boyscreatedcomplexitiesthat volunteers, manyofwhomwereretired,and well astheunusualcombinationofBruceTrail magnitude ofwhattheywereundertaking,as ownership inthestudentswithregardsto needed to be addressed. Developing a sense of restoring thetrail,anumberofobstacles Before studentscouldcommencetheirpartof did notwantthestudentsusingsledgehammers. installed the cedar logs; for safety reasons we volunteers fromtheclublaidoutprojectand In the week before the students arrived, allow it to remain open to the public. used sectionsoftheBruceTrailinorderto project wastorestoreoneofthemosthighly and truckloadsofaggregate.Thegoalthis This involved400cedarlogs,700angleirons along the entire route of about a kilometre. carrying in sand and gravel by wheelbarrow pinning incedarlogswithangleirons,and The planinvolvedinstallinglandscapefabric, government sources. to be raised by the club without any help from project cameclose to $9,000andallfundshad with some in-kind donations, the cost of the studying the land and pricing materials. Even designers (allvolunteers) spendingdays Caledon HillsBTC’s mostexperiencedtrail and planningprocessbeganwithsomeofthe teams of12or13forahalfday. Thedesign offer of120 studentswhowould work in The CaledonHillsBTC quickly acceptedUCC’s and financial. would require a lot of resources, both human group toundertakemajortrailrehabilitation becoming badly impacted. For a volunteer being “loved to death” and the trail was proximity of a huge urban population, it was such is subject to . Within close decided tomove thewheelbarrowsinteams, raced oneanother downthetrails,some maximize theirgroup’spotential: someboys group hadtheirownideas regarding howto work togethertoachievetheir goals.Each of hours.Itwasimperative forthestudentsto Trail involvedstrenuousactivity foranumber the work done on this section of the Bruce group work to the students. The majority of the week was stressing the importance of An additional factor that led to the success of of whattheyweredoing. of thestudentsgainasenseimportance incredible sightofthe Badlands,helped many Bruce Trail.This,incombinationwith the groupshikedonnumeroussectionsof spectacular Badlands.Duringtheweekeachof Another motivatingfactor was seeingthe really helpedtomotivatethe students. going tobeleavingsuchagrandimpression The knowledge that what they were doing was a 50-yearsolution. informing themthattheywereacrucialpartof to preventthetrailfrombeingclosed,and showing the group what they would be doing erosion. The briefing also consisted of explaining the susceptibility of the soil to given a geography lesson of the area used sections of the Bruce Trail, and were learned thattheBadlandsareoneofmost take ownership over their work. The groups an even larger role in preparing the group to While thiswaslogisticallyimportant,itplayed tour and lesson regarding the use of the trail. Adventureworks! staff and gave them a brief group of students and UCC and greeted the volunteers Trail Bruce session half day the beginningofeach were embarkingon.At with regardstowhatthey boys wouldhavetobeempowered combat initialbarriers,thegroupsof In ordertomaximizeoursuccessand Education forCharacter 5 PATHWAYS Education forCharacter 6 PATHWAYS clearly involved asubstantialcommitment of the excellentfootpaththat now exists.It Badlands. Shewrote:“Iwas veryimpressedby Trust (OHT),thegroupthat holdstitletothe Heritage CoordinatorforOntario Heritage of theBruceTrail.PaulaTerpstra istheNatural single trailrehabilitationprojectinthehistory accolades begantopourinforthelargest Almost immediatelyaftercompletion,outside we canworkwith you againsoon.” volunteers as their highlight of the trip. I hope day ofserviceworkwithyouandyourteam long program,manystudentspickedtheirhalf was highlycontagious.Attheendofweek- numbers ofvolunteersandyourenthusiasm were well-organized,youbroughtoutlarge last yearwasoneofthefinestIhaveseen.You organizations over the years, and the project pleasure ofdoingserviceworkwithmany with thefollowingmessage: “Ihavehadthe Hills BTCTrailCoordinator,RossMaclean, Outdoor SchoolofUCC,e-mailedCaledon highly effective.BillElgie,Directorofthe Club volunteersandUCCstudentsproved In the end, the combination of Bruce Trail be enjoyed for many years to come. wonderful project that will allow the trail to restoration ofthetrailgottobeparta been problematic.Allthoseinvolvedinthe participant, attainingourgoalswouldhave sense ofownershipinstilledineach became nearlysecondnature.Withoutthe ownership ofthisproject,workingtogether accomplishing theproject,andaftertaking working togetherwasimperativein grand success. The students learned that The weekontheCheltenhamBadlandswasa the weekwascontagious. most respondedwithanenthusiasmthatover student groupsobviouslyvariedinquality, than workingindividually.Althoughthe be muchlesstiredatthe end ofahardday, team theycouldachievesomuchmore,and soon discoveredthatwhentheyworked asa what methodtheychose,eachgroupofboys and othersswitchedroles often.Regardlessof service project coordinator. College andAdventureworks! Associatesas the with the Bruce Trail Association, Upper Canada days ontheBruceTrailworking incombination Rebecca Dykstrahadtheprivilege ofspendingfive Coordinator fortheCaledonHills BruceTrailClub. Norval Outdoor School. Ross MacLean is the Trail Bill ElgieistheDirectorofUpperCanadaCollege’s community. the importanceofcontributingtotheir grew intheirknowledgeofthelandscapeand students tookprideintheirachievementand walk onthismagnificentlandscape.The stand up well to the thousands who each year work butwehadcreatedafootpaththatwill volunteers andUCCstudents.Itwashard everyone whohadworkedonthetrail—adult These congratulationswereextendedto of thismajortreadwayupgrade.” and volunteerhourswentintothecompletion A tremendousamountofplanning,expertise work intreadwayrestorationattheBadlands.. wrote: “Congratulations . . . [on] the excellent Walker, the chair of the Awards Committee, trail throughtheBadlandsproperty.Chris recognition of the major rehabilitation of the of thejudgestoreceivethisaward,in Caledon HillsClubwastheunanimouschoice At thisyear’sBTAAnnualGeneralMeeting,the escarpment werethustoberecognized. that helpedtoprotecttheecologyof walk lightlyontheland.”Trailimprovements perspective. Thethinkingwasthatwe“must contribution to the trail from an environmental an awardtobegivenannuallyforthegreatest natural beauty.Aboutfiveyearsagohedonated wanted the Escarpment celebrated for its first TrailDirector.Hewasanaturalistand was oneofthefounderstrailandits Gosling Award.Morethan40yearsago,Philip Bruce TrailAssociationisthePhilipandJean The highestawardforsuchworkwithinthe on behalf of the OHT and myself personally.” extend congratulationsforajobwelldone,both volunteer labourandmaterials.I’dliketo