Hello and welcome to a blog post about our PLP class’ first field study since grade 8. This field study was about Loon Lake. Loon Lake is a retreat centre located in Maple Ridge, and operated by UBC, that focuses on corporate retreats or overnight school trips. Our class went there for a 4 day field study to try and get us out of the classroom and into a new gear of learning. Retreats are important because they can be like a large shift in your working habits, by putting you somewhere new, doing something new, you begin to develop new habits and can generally gain a new perspective on your personal and work life.

Throughout the trip we did numerous activities. These included: a birds of prey performance, a visit to the extreme air park, canoeing, rock climbing, high ropes, archery, some heated game nights, and some great food.

During the trip we were asked to think about a goal that could be feasibly completed by the end of the trip. My goal was “Build strategy(s)/a plan that can help me find what I want to work towards the future goal of gaining as much life experience and knowledge as possible while making myself more determined to learn in the process.” I thought of this goal because I wanted to use the field study as an opportunity, and start of new habits that will help me make sure that what I decide to do after I graduate high school is influenced by as much knowledge and experience as possible. I wanted to do this because at my current stage in life I only have a rough idea of what I have in mind for the future, and I want to be sure of my future by graduation.

Over the course of the trip, everyone in the class made progress on their goal, including me. Although there wasn’t as much there that was brand new to me, (I’ve done quite a bit of outdoor activity in my spare time) I still felt that I was building new habits towards my goal. As part of goal was to try and see the future an activity can bring, as opposed to the possibly monotonous present of the activity, I was trying to see what kind of future each thing could bring me to that I experienced, and throughout the learning about being “ready”, (for being a pretty simple term it really is quite complicated) I think that I demonstrated this by engaging myself and thinking of personal examples where the learning that was being conducted could be executed.

All in all, I think that I completed my goal for the time at loon lake and made great progress toward my larger goal throughout, and after the trip. Thanks for reading,

Keenan