The Gifts of our Beautiful Campus

Our students have now been at The Grove for a full three weeks, fully immersed in orientation programming designed to help them feel at home at Lakefield with activities focussed on helping them feel rooted in their houses, their classes and our community. 

Given our beautiful natural surroundings, we are always focussed on providing our students with multiple opportunities each day to get outside - during class, co-curricular time or extended Outdoor Education activities. Our Orientation programming was no exception. Students in all Grades had the opportunity to spend time outside on our lake, in our woods and on our fields. They enjoyed games and cooperative challenges outside on our main and Northcote campuses and on trips off campus (like the Grade 9 trip to the Ganaraska forest for Tree Top Trekking and the Grade 12 Algonquin Park canoe trip). 

Research tells us that spending time in nature is good for our bodies and our brains. Spending time outdoors not only helps to restore our sense of balance; it can also boost our mental energy and improve our short term memory. 

Spending time on the water and in boats provides our students with an opportunity to connect with nature and to be more present with each other. Teamwork and communication skills are integral to moving a canoe from one shore to another and it’s nearly impossible to text and paddle at the same time!  All of our students spent time on the water last week. Our Grade 9s practiced Dragon Boating with Survivors Abreast on Little Lake in Peterborough, our Grade 10s paddled home from Northcote Campus after a morning of Paper House games in the sunshine and the Grade 11s paddled to Northcote before camping there overnight. Our Grade 12s all took part in the time-honoured tradition of paddling on a 4-day canoe trip in Algonquin Provincial Park. For some, this was a huge step outside of their comfort zones. For others, it was a celebration of three years in our Outdoor Education program. For everyone, it was a chance to be physically challenged, disconnect from the demands of technology and social media and reconnect with themselves and their peers in one of the most beautiful natural fall landscapes. 

There is now ample evidence that our brains change after a prolonged immersion in nature. Research into the benefits of spending more than 3 days in the wilderness, referred to as the "3-day effect,"  tells us that our brain’s ability to perform creative, problem-solving tasks increases by 50% after spending 3 or more days in nature. According to one researcher, "If you can disconnect and experience being in the moment for two or three days, it seems to produce a difference in qualitative thinking."

 

As we settle into classes this week, the benefits of our orientation activities and time spent outside are already noticeable. There is a stronger sense of community in our classes and in our houses and our students are prepared and energized to take-on their academic and co-curricular pursuits.