EDGE Leadership
EDGE Leadership
EDGE stands for:
Engagement of mind, body and spirit that promotes understanding and compassion, and inspires passion and commitment.
Development of individuals that is the foundation for building a better world.
Gratitude that grows from awareness and appreciation of the opportunities and choices that sustain a happy, meaningful and satisfying life. With privilege goes responsibility: pay it forward.
Experience that is the most powerful teacher. A well-rounded education comprises new, diverse and challenging experiences.
— Peter Yates, EDGE Coordinator
Current 2011 EDGE in Thailand now – Click here for news from the project
Past EDGE Trips
2010 Thailand Project - CRCAT’s Ban Natoe campus brings education and agricultural training to hilltribe students. It is a privilege for Shawnigan students to work alongside the hilltribe peoples in a shared endeavour, to appreciate by experience something of what life is like for the less-privileged 98% of the world’s population, and to witness firsthand how happiness can exist in the complete absence of material wealth. There are twelve grade 11 students and three staff on this year’s EDGE Thailand team.
2009 Thailand Project—March 2009 marks our fifth year in Thailand. In response to an overwhelming number of strong student applications, this year will see two teams (Black and Gold) working on completely separate projects. One will be constructing a learning centre and the other will be helping to construct accommodations. The Black group will be working with the Karen hilltribe people near Kamphaeng Phet.
The Gold group will be stationed at Ban Nato, one of eight sub-colleges or satellite campuses of Chiangrai College of Agriculture and Technology. The so-called "Nato Model" is well known for its strong focus on sustainability and highly regarded for its proven record of effectiveness in delivering education to rural people. Our EDGE team is helping to construct a small guest quarters that will expand on-site accommodations for the increasing numbers of educators seeking firsthand experience of Nato. Thus Shawnigan is playing a support role in a kind of pyramid scheme of education whereby a relatively few people can come to Nato and then disseminate new knowledge in an ever-widening circle.
EDGE projects are collaborative in nature, teaming Shawnigan students and Thai students in immersion living and working conditions. We seek to provide a hand up—as opposed to a handout—and one of the best ways to do that is to improve access to education. A rural learning centre achieves that goal perfectly.
The teams are looking forward to the joys and challenges of hard work, hot weather, spartan accommodations and Thai food. We plan to post pictures and blogs on this web page as a means of sharing our adventures with family and friends, though the frequency of those postings will depend a great deal on internet access. We invite you to look in from time to time over Spring Break.
(NB. Applicants to EDGE projects are selected without consideration of financial status. Directing annual fund donations to the EDGE Program is one sure way to invest in global action.)
2008 Wilderness Hut Stewardship—The idea of a wilderness hut stewardship component to the EDGE Leadership Program was first proposed by Nigel Mayes. His inspiration was the wonderfully maintained Keith Flavelle Hut (located in the Coast Mountain Range, and popular base for backcountry skiers). Our main criterion when considering the adoption of a hut is the extent to which its wilderness location is enhanced by the presence of a permanent structure: does it help reduce environmental impact (by concentrating and managing the human footprint in an eco-sensitive area) and does it contribute to public safety?
The "G" in EDGE stands for Gratitude. In the case of hut stewardship, the "G" is about promoting appreciation and respect for wilderness and fostering a sense of responsibility to protect wild places for future generations.
The series of photos on the right are of the Wheaton Hut (named for a Shawnigan Alumnus) situated in Marble Meadows in Strathcona Park.
2008 Mae Hong Son Project—A Shawnigan EDGE Leadership team is spending most of March on a construction project in rural northern Thailand in the province of Mae Hong Son.
The new building will be used as an "Entrepreneur Incubator"—that is, it will support a educational programs that promote entrepreneurship knowledge and skills for the Karen hilltribe people in that region, to help them become more self-sufficient and improve their standard of living.
As in the past, our team are working with Thai students and teachers and living in simple concrete block buildings. Meals will be Thai fare, beds will be steel frame bunks and toilets will be the ubiquitous squattees (all part of the experience).
The EDGE team has committed to raising $1800 toward the bricks and mortar for this project. In order to raise both awareness and funds, the team is selling t-shirts featuring a funky Emma Hollings design and the Grade 10 class dedicating any profits from the dance they are putting on this weekend.
(NB. Applicants to EDGE projects are selected without consideration of financial status. Directing annual fund donations to the EDGE Program is one sure way to invest in global action.)
2007 Buriram Project—Our Shawnigan E.D.G.E. team of 12 students and 2 staff are working in Buriram in northeastern Thailand, near the Cambodian border, to help establish a distance education resource centre for the underprivileged people in that region.
Although all Thai children are entitled to schooling from kindergarten through grade 9, the reality is that there are not enough teachers, schools nor resources. In the heavily populated and very poor areas of the northeast where people eke out a subsistence living by farming, education is the single most important factor influencing both the hope and the likelihood of improving one’s lot in life.
The Thai government understands both the present shortfalls and the longterm importance of education. Their approach is results-oriented and they often support creative initiatives by vocational colleges, which offer a wide range of programmes and frequently deliver them in unorthodox ways. The vocational college in Buriram submitted a proposal to establish a distance education resource centre that will increase accessibility and the effectiveness of vocational educational for the poor people of the region. Enter Shawnigan’s E.D.G.E.
2006 Thailand Hilltribes Trip—"Our Thailand trip has been an immersion experience. We arrived with open minds and a sense of wonder. We continually stepped outside our comfort zones and we sustained a sense of adventure. As a result we were drawn to many generous and remarkable Thai people who treated us to a rare insider’s perspective of Thai culture. I daresay very few Thais will ever accrue the breadth of experience and the firsthand knowledge of this diverse country that has been our privilege this past month." – Peter Yates
2005 Tsunami Re-building Project—The Tsunami Re-building Project in Thailand was all about experiential learning and global citizenship. It was a profoundly rewarding undertaking for us as teachers because our students were continuously exploring their learning edges and so completely engaged in the wonders and challenges of it all. Our heartfelt thanks to the Headmaster for his unwavering commitment, and to the Annual Fund donors whose contributions financed the project.
