Harnessing the power of adventure

Pointing the compass north, Recreation and Leisure Studies faculty, students, and alumni attended the annual Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario Conference (COEO) at YMCA Camp Kitchikewana in the Georgian Bay Islands. The theme of the conference, Harnessing the Power of Adventure, encouraged delegates to consider how adventure is used to engage, inspire, empower and educate Ontario's youth in outdoor education and outdoor recreation programs.

One of the highlights from this year’s conference was Recreation and Leisure Professor Tim O’Connell receiving the 2011 Dorothy Walter Leadership Award. Candidates were chosen based on their outstanding commitment to the development of leadership qualities in Ontario youth through outdoor education.

With this year’s winner, it’s not hard to see his genuine passion for the outdoors, which is apparent in his teaching and research activities. In addition to this, Tim’s vision of adventure education has come to life through the “kickstart” of Brock BaseCamp - an outdoor orientation program for incoming students.

Sharing the limelight, the conference featured many Brock attendees presenting workshops. Ryan Howard, a Doctoral student in Applied Health Sciences focusing on Social and Cultural Health Studies, was part of three different workshops. He solo presented Adventure Spaces: How We View Our Adventure Places, co-presented From Idea to Action: Bringing the Brock BaseCamp Outdoor Orientation Program to Life with Tim O’Connell, and moderated Mary Breunig’s panel session, Integrated Environmental Education: Theory, Praxis and Research – A Panel Discussion on Future Pathways and Opportunities.

“It was inspiring to see people from many areas of outdoor education come together at a really beautiful location” Howard commented, “In terms of the presentations, there was a wide-variety of interesting programs, it was impressive to see Brock community members - undergraduate students, graduate students, alumni and faculty – taking part in and presenting sessions.”

Offering a workshop titled Is Age 30 “Over the Hill” for Outdoor Professionals? The Role of Organizations in Encouraging Longevity on the Front Line, Liz Kirk, a Masters student in Leisure Studies, presented her research on the social support networks of wilderness program leaders.

Rounding out the workshop presenters for Brock was Bob Henderson, who was recently appointed as an Adjunct professor. Henderson presented on outdoor pedagogy and the importance of using small groupings of information titled, Good Things Come in Threes.