FARMINTON — Foster Career and Technical Education Center [FCTEC] highlighted one of its newest programs to the Regional School Unit 9 Board of Directors on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Oxbow Outdoors is an outdoor leadership program spearheaded by CTE instructors Jacob Bogar and Travis Tierney.
The Oxbow Outdoor pilot was one of nine programs that qualified for this funding.
The program has since transitioned from a RREV pilot program to a full time CTE Outdoor Leadership program in 2022-23.
“This has been a tremendous opportunity for not only the kids, but our other students and staff,” FCTEC Director Melissa Williams stated.
According to their presentation, the program was designed to develop hard and soft skills and to allow students to seek a niche and to have some choices in the certifications they are seeking upon graduation.
In its first year, the program reached roughly half of its capacity with 12 students [6 juniors, 6 seniors]. The skills cultivated in the program include outdoor living skills, planning and logistics, risk management, environmental integration, leadership and judgment and decision-making.
To date, students in the program have experienced:
– Students start with Leadership Models/Safety/Risk Management
– Trip Leader Decision Making Scenarios
– Leave No Trace Principles
– Shelter Building/Knot Tying/ Fire Making/Tinder Skills
– Donning/Shucking/Packing packs.
– Backcountry Stove/Cooking Skills
– Small Hand Tool Safety/Yurt Prep
– Trip Planning/Packing/Purchasing
– Water Filtration
– Climbing Knots and Bouldering Techniques
– KPE 265 3 Credit Dual Enrollment with UMaine Outdoor Leadership
– Guest Speaker Doug Dunlap
Along with that, students in the program have taken trips that involve skill building and assessment. They have taken hiking and cooking assessments at Bald Mountain in Rangeley and French Mountain in Rome as well as mountain biking workshops in Carrabassett Valley and Titcomb Mountain.
Of the 12 students, 10 of them have earned certifications in hunter and firearm safety, two in paddler safety and one student in bowhunter safety. All 12 have earned Leave No Trace certification.
All of this has culminated in the collaboration between Pre-Engineering, Outdoor Leadership, Building Construction and Career Exploration Programs to construct a yurt, which is a portable, round tent.
“Not only have they been undertaking curriculum in the class itself, as well as the engineering curriculum, but they’ve also been building a yurt, which has been a journey,” Tierney stated.
“This really presented some great opportunities for our students to work together as well as other programs and other instructors,” Bogar commented.
Supplies for the yurt were ordered in July, with road work and electrical staging beginning in October. By late October, beam and deck framing construction had begun with the yurt kit arriving Nov. 14.
“It’s been a wild ride,” Tierney stated.
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