30the northern campus over 30

The whole thing began in 1973 with benefactor and parent Bruce McLaughlin’s gift to Appleby

of the 11-acre Rabbitnose Island in Lake Temagami. Ned Larsen, then the headmaster, envisioned

an Outward Bound-style programme for his students, and the Temagami location,

both far away and close enough at 500 km north of Oakville, was considered ideal for the project.

By M i c h a e l D E S R o c h e s ’ 6 2 ,

A r c h i v i s t

Snowshoeing on ice.

Appleby Quarterly, Summer 2004 27

While many schools had outdooreducation components in theircurricula, Appleby envisioned being thefirst school in Canada to offer aformally structured, Ministry ofEducation-approved programmecombining academic studies withwilderness activities in courses earningprovincial high school credits. Survivaltraining experiences would be recordedin journals for English; bushcraftwould go hand-in-hand withenvironmental science; orienteeringwould dovetail with geography studies.The Ministry approved, andNorthward Bound was underway.

At the outset, the programme borethe high-sounding moniker‘Environmental Recreology’, or ER forshort: ERI was the basic programmefor all Grade 10s, ERII was for Grade11 instructors-in-training, and ERIIIwas the Grade 12 instructors’ course.Grade 13s didn’t participate,concentrating instead on doing well intheir final year. The Grades 9sparticipated in a ‘pre-North’programme at the Oakville campus.

Initially, Grade 10 boys (this was 18years before Appleby went coed) spenta month at a time at the NorthernCampus. Each class of 20 boys,accompanied by two teachers and threeGrade 12 instructors, spent October,November or February at Rabbitnose.

Boys were expected to completeacademic projects while there, tomaintain their regular schoolwork.

Non-academic activities includedbushcraft, learning about the ‘ediblewild’ (what you could eat withoutmaking yourself sick, or worse),orienteering (map-and-compass work),tripping by canoe or on foot, buildinglean-tos and quinzhees (snow shelters),and basic safety and first aid. Inaddition to these pursuits, each boywas required to experience a ‘solo’,when he survived on his own for 24hours. He was left at some distancefrom the camp with a six-by-ten-footplastic sheet, 20 feet of butcher cord,

a knife, flashlight, poncho, sleepingbag, pen, two sheets of paper, a billytin, a half-cup each of Tea-Bisk and amixture of chocolate chips, raisins andwalnuts, eight matches, three tea bags,a can of sardines, and all the clothes hecould wear. One boy said in hisjournal: “I talked to squirrels and birdson my solo. It’s funny what you dowhen you’re alone.”

By 1986, the programme hadundergone some changes. WithAppleby on the brink of becoming afour-year high school, HeadmasterAlexis Troubetzkoy called for a study to

Coed fun in the snow.

Whitewater canoeing prior to 1991. Fraser Grant ’87 (left) throwing pizza dough with

Doug Stamper, director of the Northern Campus.

An indoor activity in 1995–1996: Lara Azzopardi ’98 and Evanka Osmak ’98(facing front) work with faculty memberPremek Hamr.

assess the impact a more concentratedhigh school curriculum would have onNorthward Bound. While reaffirmingthe value of the programme, thecommittee made three majorrecommendations: first, continue theERII and ERIII courses; second,shorten the time spent in those years tominimize missed classroom time; andthird, move as many training sessionsas possible into holiday periods.

About $135,000 was spent onupgrading facilities (particularly themain lodge and the boathouse) and onequipment to accommodate 80 or morepeople, as the plan was for all Grade10s to go up at the same time. In theintervening 13 years, the Grade 10s’one-month stay had been reorganizedinto two two-week periods, one in thefall and the other in the winter, sostudents wouldn’t miss an unbrokenmonth of regular classes. In the 1987-88year, the time was shortened to twosessions of nine days each. Four-daypracticums for ERII and ERIII wereheld on long weekends, and a four-daypre-North trip for the Grade 9s wasinstituted. The larger number of Grade10s (up to 80 from about 60 in theearly years), and the fact that all Grade10s were at the Northern Campus at thesame time, necessitated proportionallygreater participation by teachers,with corresponding effects on theirschedules at the main campus.

Appleby became coeducational in1991, and so did the Northern Campus.Although some expressed concern aboutgirls at Temagami, Northward Bounddirector Jim Fischer didn’t see any major

problems. “The girls have performed aswell as their male counterparts,” hesaid. “They’ve taken on the challengesand shown they’re as capable as theguys in doing anything we do up there,and doing it just as well.”

Sessions were again slightlyshortened, with a seven-day winter tripand an eight-day spring trip. Studentsdid two overnight trips, but solos hadbeen phased out, as were the holiday-time sessions. A Grade 8 programme,essentially a team-building exercisein September each year, had beenintroduced two years before. Groupsshrank back to 1973 sizes, with about16 students per group, meaning thatfewer teachers needed to be away fromcampus and the instructor-studentratio was higher.

In 2004, the programme is stillevolving. The Northern Campusexperience remains at the top of thestudents’ hit parade in terms ofpopularity, as the activities continue tochange to meet the needs of thestudents and the programme.

Long gone are the termEnvironmental Recreology and theattempt to carry on an academicprogramme at the Northern Campus.Sailing, mountain biking, and ‘runningThe Knob’ – a fun footrace around TheKnob, a geographical feature near thecamp – are history, too. Rock climbingand group initiatives are addedactivities. The 120 Grade 10s nowspend six days at Temagami during thewinter in groups of about 24, andbetween 15 and 30 students (usuallythose interested in the Grade 11

instructor programme) sign up for anoptional summer canoe trip afterschool ends in June. Grade 9s, equalin number to the Grade 10s, spend aweek at Temagami toward the endof the spring term as part of theASCENT* programme. Grades 11 and12 leaders/instructors work withthe two lower grades as well asparticipating in their own trainingprogrammes.

Current director Doug Stampersees the same essential value in theprogramme now as existed at thebeginning: “Our students have theopportunity to surpass their perceivedlimits – going beyond what theythought they were capable of, bothindividually and as groups.” Inthe midst of growth and change, theNorthward Bound programmecontinues to maintain its coreprinciples: training for leadership,an active reverence for nature and theenvironment, the development ofself-discipline, self-awareness andconfidence, and the growth of maturityand responsibility. It has had aprofoundly favourable impact onhundreds of students, who stillremember and recall their northernexperience in glowing terms.

* The ASCENT programme replaces final

examinations for Upper Ones. Each student is

given a cumulative evaluation based on a three-

week rotation through each of three areas: arts,

service and Northward Bound. The week-long

Northward Bound segment involves a four-day

canoe trip through the Temagami wilderness and

the preparations that lead up to it.

28 Appleby Quarterly, Summer 2004