For the last 20 years, the outdoor education program at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School (SAMS) in Bella Coola, British Columbia, has been a launch pad for local youth to engage with the land and sea. The high-school program is immersive, physically demanding, and deeply rooted in place.
“It’s a pretty full-on wilderness-based course,” says Alex Boileau, longtime outdoor ed teacher at SAMS and a passionate advocate for experiential learning. This year’s spring expedition took students in grades 10 to 12 to the Hakai Institute's Calvert Island Ecological Observatory, where water-based skills and lessons in outdoor survival, marine biology, leadership, and resilience came to life.
Over the course of the year, students in the school’s outdoor education program build toward the spring expedition with progressive trips: an overnight fall backpacking trip, two overnight winter skills trips, and eventually a week-long experience they helped plan. This experience included a 24-hour solo that blended survival skills with solitude and self-reflection.
The culminating challenge took place on the rugged shores of Calvert Island, where the 13 teenagers built shelters, cooked meals, and watched the ocean roll in from their solo campsites on North Beach, Seventh and Fifth beach—well above the tide levels.
Calvert Island, with its wild beaches, biodiversity, as well as ocean environment provide unique challenges, rewards and opportunities for discovery and experiential outdoor learning.
“We don’t often get conditions like this in the estuary back in Bella Coola,” Boileau explains. “Here, they can really paddle, explore in the more sheltered waters of Pruth Bay, and try ocean kayaking and surfing. They’ve seen wolves, sometimes sea otters. That connection with their surroundings is pretty special.”
The program touches on everything from marine biology to outdoor experiential education and is assisted by Hakai Institute instructors and researchers. Some years, students in other classes, such as science or Nuxalk language courses, are added for joint field trips.
Many of them didn’t want to leave, says Boileau, noting that the lessons went far beyond the curriculum. “It was the sunshine, kayaking, surfing, the waves, hiking, and the camaraderie; they came away really being a team. Helping each other, the friendships they’ve made, the memories—that’s what stuck.”
In 2025, the students connected with Coastal Guardians—local environmental stewards who protect and manage their traditional coastal territories, some of whom are former SAMS outdoor education students. The Guardians not only support logistics but offer inspiration.
“For students who want to go into tourism, adventure guide training, coastal guardian watchmen program, conservation—it’s a real glimpse of what’s possible,” says Boileau.
As the program prepares for 2026 with growing interest and potential for more participants, the support of school staff, parents, and partners like the Hakai Institute, SD 49, the Tula Foundation, and Coastal Guardians continues to be essential.
“A lot of high schools say they offer outdoor education,” says Barry Squires, principal of SAMS, “but you can’t do that without ever leaving the classroom. That’s not what we do. Our kids are out there—on the land and the water to see how it actually functions, to be able to build their skills to survive there.”
