The Sail and Life Training Society (S.A.LT.S) has been a popular program among Bow Valley students in the past and now with the addition of receiving secondary school credits through participation, students can enjoy a vast change in scenery and gain extra educational footing on the open water.
Canmore Collegiate High School (CCHS) students are getting ready to take part in the next S.A.L.T.S session on March 24, and will head to Vancouver Island where they will crew on a tall ship.
“It was a really good experience to interact with other people. You’re not allowed technology, so you have to interact with people,” said Grade 11 students Melody Hariri and Asahi Seki. Both students will participate in their second S.A.L.T.S excursion this March.
“You actually get a Junior Sailing Certificate, so you can do a test every day, study and learn different parts of the boat. And you learn how to sail on the ocean and the maps of the ocean and at the end you actually do a test and if you pass you get your certificate. You learn a lot of different knots and what to do if someone goes overboard with life saving.”
Both students agreed it was a big help in tackling a new challenge outside their comfort zone. If students complete assigned projects during the trip, they can receive accreditation in navigation, boating safety, tourism and photography.
“And the S.A.L.T.S program also has summer programs,” said Grade 11 student Juli Ohsada. “This will actually be my fifth time going. When I first went that wasn’t an option yet because we were one of the first ones to go. So this will be the first year we get credits, and that’s a really good opportunity for us.”
“Last year, we really tried to make sure people had the chance to receive credits,” said CCHS teacher Hans Holthuis. “S.A.L.T.S teaches navigation skills, sailing skills, boating safety and we thought, well, they’re doing it already, we should give them credit for this.
“And with this past year, students take a lot of pictures and we thought, well, let’s give them credit for that. It’s a digital photography communications credit – it helps in being able to organize and be a little more thoughtful in the pictures you take.”
Students have to prepare to part with certain areas of modern technology when participating in S.A.L.T.S, but found out quickly it’s not as bad as they imagined.
“We don’t get to have phones, but we get that one on one time with each other,” said Seki. “It forces us to socialize.”
“It’s pretty daunting thinking about not having your phone for a long period of time because today so many of us are with our phone. But when we go on the trip we don’t really realize the phone’s not with us because you’re so busy. On the trip, I personally didn’t think of my phone once,” Ohsada said.
“It’s a good challenge to come out of your comfort zone, being in the woodlands and being on the ship for five days, it’s a good experience,” Seki said.
