Don't get lost... Take A Hike! - Vancouver organization leads teens out of the woods

It's called "Take a Hike." It is a an alternative education program in which barriers to learning are minimized, personal issues are addressed, and students achieve a greater level of social and academic success.

Take a Hike is one of Clara Hughes' favourite causes, which raises the organization's profile and helps to explain why it easy to discover and why one might want to look into it further.

This is a program that empowers young people who have run into problems in the mainstream school system. Among other things, it gives them a belief in themselves and their abilities, as well as a lifelong respect and appreciation for nature and the outdoors.

The program combines the following four methodologies: adventure-based learning, therapies, academics and community learning.

Take a Hike has been around for over ten years, its foundation has raised over $1 million for at-risk students in Vancouver and its board of directors includes a generous selection of community and corporate leaders.

Keeping in mind that this is a school-based program, it must be recognized that various school districts across the country have developed their own alternative education solutions for their own communities. The program as it exists in Vancouver is also specifically utilized with "at risk" kids. There may be more to this than meets the eye however there is no readily apparent reason why some adapted version of Take A Hike couldn't be successful with other special needs groups.

It also sounds like this program has all the attributes of something that would be worth taking nation-wide. So hopefully we will see it, or something like it, soon in our own community, be it in Montreal or even in the South Shore Montreal area.