Inter-Webb's Guide to the Outdoors

As a final post, thank you. 

Thank you for holding this space for me and also sharing authentically. 

It has been extremely eye opening to read your posts and to connect in ways I never thought we all would. While I do not super like blogs or discussion posts, I am thankful for this experience. I know I was not able to preform as high of an academic level I wish I could have and I know this is a similar experience for some of you, but I am SOOOOO proud of what we all were able to produce. 

I. AM. PROUD. OF. YOU. 

(read it as many times as you need, I’ll be here as long as you need me :) )

Thank you all. 

l love y’all. 

Now, go and do something that fills your soul and provides love and healing :) it helps so much more than one thinks. 

No matter what we get academically, I think you are all so brilliant and amazing in ways that cannot be graded. Know you are more than your academics, I have  had the pleasure of knowing many of you outside of the classroom and you are all beautiful multi-dimensional beings that are so worthy of life. 

These three things I know for certain about outdoor recreation research:

There is much more that needs to be researched: Throughout our course, I have seen and heard about so many of the gaps in the field of outdoor recreation (OR). There is so much that has not been researched and likely won't until people like us such as Kelsey Mailandt and Stephanie Potter find these gaps and fill them. I have seen and felt how under-recognized our field can be by other professions such as engineering and medical since so much can be seen as “silly fun” and not essential. However, through research and speaking up about the intricacies of outdoor recreation, the gaps are being filled and we are getting the recognition that is deserved.

There is a “hidden” wealth of knowledge in this field: My first point leads directly to this one. I have been talking to people in the social work program and they have realized how some of the researched theories and ideas within the OR field can be applied to their own work. One time I spent over an hour going over some of my past research assignments and lectures with an individual and they were able to apply it into one of their research projects. This made me appreciate OR much more because something that seemed so second nature to me and that others did not recognize as important, was essential to another field's knowledge and they had no idea it existed.

It is possible to be successful in our field as a researcher: Finally after seeing our guest speakers and hearing about the possibilities research could take us in OR, I see that potential career in a new light. It is something that can be lived off of and provide joy, two of the factors that affect “success”.

These three things I am still confused by:

How to apply this to my current situation as a student who is not interested in a research position: After this course, I still struggle with applying the knowledge we gained to my current situation. As a student in the HBOR and BED stream, I will not be going into the field of research as a career. This course and the information within it was very focused on the professional years of research and not much on my current student years. While it is extremely valuable to have as a researcher, I honestly am confused about how to apply it to my life as a student and future teacher.

How to analyze data numerically:  I am a very analytical and numerical person, so I have always been interested in how research projects analyzed their numerical data and created the statistics. I am still confused about how to do so as there was not much focus on it, but I have a feeling that this will be coming in our next research course in third year.

How to find participants naturally as an introvert who is not very good at “domino” connections:  A major component of research and the topics discussed in this course was about participants. However, as a person who is introverted and struggles to communicate with my neurodivergence, I am still confused about how to find participants for personal research as there is a major need to be able to connect with people using verbal and written communication. Sometimes wording can seem nice, formal and open to me but to others it can be confusing and cold and cause them to not connect with the information.

These three things I know for certain about me as an outdoor recreation researcher:

To follow my passions:  As an OR researcher, I know for certain that I should follow what I am passionate about. There have been suggestions to follow topics that are interests, but after doing so, I struggle to commit and connect to the information. Whereas when I research a passion, I dive deeper into the topic and am excited for more knowledge and data.

I can research with an open mind to the answers that await:  This is something that is not always possible for researchers to do, hence why they are recommended to follow interests, rather than passions due to the emotional connection. One thing I have found that I can do is research with an open mind and take away my bias on a passion. This is an interesting and unique thing that I do not take lightly and am extremely thankful for.

I have a major appreciation for the researchers in our field:  After spending almost 4 months learning about research, I have a MAJOR appreciation for those in the OR field that are researchers. It is something that is a long and sometimes grueling process that does not always come to fruition of publishing. I know I could not do so, and am eternally thankful for those who do!

These three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:

My communication skills as a person, student and professional: This one is three areas in one of communication. I know and am currently working on developing my communication abilities to become more confident in my skills. As a person, student and potential professional as all of these areas communicate differently. I have been building my skills as a person and student and am learning how to communicate as a professional. I also recognize that this will be a lifelong learning and am very excited to continue in it.

To be 100% honest, I know I will not do extremely well on these blog posts. As to explain my situation (but not excuse it), I am completely burnt out and have had little motivation the entire semester. As mentioned previously I spent a longer part of the semester in a mental health crisis of sorts awaiting my childhood dog being put down. I also have been trying to learn about myself and live more authentically in all areas. This has contributed to my invisible backpack of a researcher because I was extremely interested in LGBTQ+ and the visibility of the community. This caused a major emotional period which I am very proud to say included me coming out to part of my family and learning I prefer She/They pronouns. All of the internal turmoil and development caused me to put the important parts of my life in focus and put others on the backburner. The backburner included school as a whole, which I do not regret in the slightest. While I wish I was able to commit more and communicate better with my professors, I am glad I focused on my personal well being and have learned so much about communication and will be using that skill better in the future. I also learned that there are certain things that I need to do for myself, which includes maintaining a healthy relationship with my activities. In the past I had an extremely bad relationship with Tumblr which caused me to spiral further into a mental health crisis and I had avoided the application for over 5 years. Throughout using it again, I recognized how important it is for me to uphold my boundaries which caused me to have little to no responses. I did read so many of my fellow classmates' posts and spoke about them in person which helped connect with my peers while maintaining my boundaries. I also, to be honest, did not read the textbook. I struggled with my relationship with reading in the past few months and completely stopped reading any and all books, both recreationally and academically. I only recently started to read again and am finding my passion for it again slowly.

While this post and some of my others were not very professional or academic, I am proud of what I was able to do. In a time of extreme personal (re)growth and learning, I am extremely proud of the work I was able to do through extreme burnout and mental health crisis and I do not regret it. Thank you all for being here to witness my personal growth as a person. 

Now I am going to send a final email and sprint out into the woods, potentially to climb a tree, and feel truly me.

The survey I completed was titled “Outdoor Recreation Participation Survey”. To find it, I googled “survey about the outdoors” and it was legitimately the first link to come up, which I found perfect to assess since it would likely be the easiest for a broad group of people to find and answer. Sadly I could not find any date or name associated with the survey, but there was an introduction that described what it was about and what the information was to be used for. It states that the survey is being conducted to go hand in hand with the creators literature review to examine why outdoor recreation is mostly Caucasian dominated with minimal participation from other ethnicities. One concerning statement is that the creator is “trying to obtain as many responses …to see if the data falls in line with what [they] have already found.” This seems to suggest that they are looking for data specifically to confirm their idea rather than looking for data around the topic. Personally, I feel that they have confirmation bias heading into this survey. Another statement in the introduction is that the purpose of the survey is to examine the correlations between demographics and the preferred outdoor recreation activities, as well as seeing how to make outdoor recreation more accessible. This sadly was not reflected well in the questionnaire.

The questionnaire had little specifics and was inconsistent in how to answer. There were a total of 31 questions and was a mix of “select one”, “select multiple” and short answer. Questions 6 through 26 were all asking “How often do you participate in the following outdoor recreation activity?” with a range of activities from hiking to wakeboarding. The inconsistency was in these questions of some being select one and others being multiple. This made it difficult and confusing to answer. It also would make it difficult to analyze as the researcher considering some questions will have 1 answer:1 participant and others can have as many as 8 answers:1 participant due to the technical error. Each of these 20 questions also contains another option which would make the analysis difficult as well. Another weakness of these questions is the wording. Some of the activities listed can only be done seasonally (ie. skiing and hunting) but there is no way to address this in the given answers for how often being daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, yearly, never, and other (please specify). I struggled to choose between yearly and weekly for snowboarding as in the winter months I usually participate at least once a week but only one time of year. For the questions like these which were seasonal, I answered in the other option and wrote out my answer similarly to above.

Another downfall of the survey was addressing its second goal of seeing how to make outdoor recreation more accessible. There were only two questions asking about accessibility and one of them was only asking about the amount of time available and what causes that. The second question was a short answer one asking “Are there any outdoor recreation activities you would like to do more often? If so, please write here what activity you’d like to do more often and what would make that possible.” This makes it too broad and hard to address the goal of the survey accurately. It also will make it difficult to analyze and put any changes into action. Having the short answer and other options can make it extremely difficult to analyze the data, just as Kelsey Mailandt’s research group struggled having the open answers as she discussed in her presentation to our class.

While this survey is good to get an idea of what demographics prefer which outdoor recreation activities, there is not enough demographics listed and inconsistency in the survey. It does open the door to the conversation, but could be done in a much more professional and stronger way.

References

Mailandt, K. (2022, March 14). Research Design Lectures: Alumni research. (PowerPoint slides). Mycourselink.

As y’all can see, this blog has been quite silent for a while, until today.

I am working to be honest and communicative in all aspects of my life and that includes the academic areas. So that prompted me to research this topic and to write this post, but as all blogs do (especially the food blogs where you need to scroll for like 10 minutes to get to the recipe), I must provide some background.

As a preface, I am not writing this looking for pity or wishes of compassion, but to be honest and real with the world and break the stigma that surrounds talking about grief.

For months, my family has been on edge, waiting for the moment of my childhood dog's death. We knew it would end in compassion and empathy with putting him down since he was so geriatric and had such severe dementia that he was no longer truly living or even present. It was heartbreaking to see him at Christmas and see just how much his health declined in the 4 months of being at school. My dog, Tucker lived 14.5 years and in his old age had many health issues that were able to be managed for a time, but had worsened to a point that felt wrong to have him endure. The hardest part was being ready for the moment of his death. Knowing that something is coming to a close is much different than actually being ready for it. I thought I was ready. I had been preparing and waiting for months, even years at some moments, but he held on. Tucker loved and cuddled and ate for so much longer than we thought he would. Even though I had spent so much time “preparing” and I felt emotionally ready, I was totaled by the grief that came. On the day we finally booked the official appointment for Tucker (which was to happen in 4 days at the time), I wrote this poem:

 “[O]ne always thinks they are ready and have prepared for the grief until it comes like a tsunami and flattens everything in its path as the crashing wave approaches there is a false sense of security until one knows their feet are pulled out with the tide as time hastily shortens (I'm not ready for what will happen in the coming days, I'm not ready for goodbye, I thought I was, but god no I want to fight tooth and nail for every second and moment I can get my hands on)” (Webb, 2022).

The grief hit me so hard, I didn't know how to function. Even though I knew that the moment was coming for months and I thought I was ready, I crumbled, and still am piecing myself back together now. This breaking and rebuilding has changed my outlook on life in so many beautiful ways. It also prompted me to research and attempt to take away the stigma that exists in our western society about grief. I shared what I was going through to people who were complete strangers and asked for no sympathy, but quiet support and I am eternally thankful for those who were around me in these moments. Even if we did not talk about the situation specifically, having you around gave me a foundation to lean upon and to grow from, just like how Tucker would have wanted me to.

The grief caused me to shut down and stop functioning how I knew to. I was not able to cook, barely eat, take care of my body, sleep consistently, attend classes, do any homework, or even exist as who I thought I was. Some of these symptoms were felt leading up to the day of putting Tucker down and I still feel some today. I might feel some or more for a long time, and that is okay. Grief is valid. 

BJ Miller states that “grief is not a pathology, it's an altered state of mind” and I could not agree more. We as a society have normalized shrinking our feelings and attempting to get rid of them as fast as possible (Miller, 2019) and it is not very healthy for our emotional and physical bodies to do so. Kübler-Ross (2009) gave us the “5 stages of grief” which are a linear progression of grieving and despite this being debunked scientifically, it is something that is still upheld by many. While it is one experience of grief, it is not something that is one-size-fits-all. This model is actually built for those going through hospice and palliative care, basically grieving their own selves and their own deaths. Kübler-Ross not only gave one view, but opened up the door to the communication of grief as it exists in our world today, normalizing it. Grief changes the way we view the world, “the surreal becomes real” within our constructed realities, the fabric becomes ripped and life collapses. In modern psychology, if we are sad for more than two weeks, we pathologize it and label it as depression when it is truly so much more than that. Grief, like any feeling, can take months and even years to process fully. In past times, grief was respected as a long term altered state. We physically showed and accepted grief as a major change. There were months of wearing black, having memorials continuously cared for, and other visual manifestations of the process.

The brain plays a major role in grief. There is an immediate acute response in the pituitary gland which produces chemicals that trigger the stress response. This response does not diminish at a quick rate, but persists for a time much longer than other stress situations. Grief causes the brain to be traumatized and the lower areas of the brain are overactive while the higher is the opposite. This causes persistent panic response and lowered emotional regulation. All of this can impact the heart and body nervous systems. This can lead to longer term disruptions such as depression and all of the systems that come with. (NBC, 2018)

The major thing is that there is no timeline or quick healing with grief. Our society today is all about timelines and productivity, but grief flips this idea on its head. There is no predictability, no planning, no standards for grieving. There is also no expectation for what causes individuals to feel grief for, one person might not feel much grief for a family member passing and another might feel extreme grief for a stranger.

Researching grief while I am going through my own grieving process has been extremely healing and informational. It allowed me to accept my feelings as valid and allow myself to follow whatever timeline is needed. To seek support and to understand that I am going to be different compared to before grieving my childhood dog. Grief is so much more than 5 steps to follow, but a life changing experience that is an altered state of mind (Miller, 2019).

To sum this up: GRIEF IS VALID. Allow yourself to feel whatever emotions arise since there is no time like the present to feel it. Process things now so you can grow as a person, if you “shove the hard stuff in the basement and shut the door on it” it will accumulate and be much more effort to clean and sort out in the future. Our emotions affect our physical bodies. Emotional health and healing is just as important as physical, it all impacts each other in the end. 

References

Kübler-Ross, E., & Kessler, D. (2009). The five stages of grief. In Library of Congress Catalogin in Publication Data (Ed.), On grief and grieving (pp. 7-30).

Miller, B. J. (2019, July 23). Grief isn’t a pathology. It’s an altered state of mind [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/1_nKGZMsCpM

If I had five minutes to interview a key thinker who represents my podcasts field of inquiry I would interview an individual who is a tourist to thunder bay and did not solely come here for outdoor activities, but does participate in them occasionally and casually. For example, someone here for business but will potentially be doing a hike or participating in a community activity such as ice skating at the marina. This could give an accurate representation of the influence of the projected desired identity on those coming to Thunder Bay and their participation in outdoor recreation, as these individuals likely are not so extremely committed to outdoor recreation that they would push through any barriers, but also have a want to participate.

Five interview questions I would ask are as follows:

What brings you to Thunder Bay? This would reveal their reasoning for coming to the area. Knowing this would allow us as researchers to confirm that this individual fits within the criteria we are looking for. Also to create a baseline of what the different levels of commitment to outdoor recreation have on the level of influence that projected identity has on participation in Thunder Bay.

What outdoor activities do you do in your free time at home? This question informs us as the researchers of the amount of outdoor recreation activities are done in the individuals regular life, this would create a baseline to see how the participation changes when coming to Thunder Bay.

Have you done any of these activities in Thunder Bay? How did you find out about them? This gives the change in participation once in the area, and the method of learning about them. Knowing the routes of the individuals found the activities informs the types of marketing and the potential advertised identity that the individuals were exposed to.

Do you see others that look like you doing these activities here? Asking this question is more personal than the three above, so there is a level of trust that must be established. This question will reveal the difference between the projected and the actual identity of the individuals participating in the outdoor recreation activities. This will give data to reveal how identity impacts participation.

On a scale from 1-10, how welcomed do you feel when doing these activities in Thunder bay? And what about when at home? This will give quantitative data that further reflects how identity impacts participation, particularly how important it is to the area that participants “fit” the projected identity. This will also reflect the desire to participate more than once for both the home and Thunder Bay area, further showing how identity reflects participation.

Within this article, the key message that can be found is bringing awareness to the fact that women are underrepresented in the science field and the ones that are there are leaving the career much sooner than their male counterparts. Author Sian Powell refers to data from both the  Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) and the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), both located in Australia (where this news article comes from). Most of the data surrounds the statistic of women being the lead investigator of research projects much less than men, with only 186 out of 550 projects receiving grants being led by women.

These sources were found with a systematic review. The author found information/sources about women leaving the science field and analyzed the data and information shared. This substantiates the presence of the problem and also due to the content of the information, proposes solutions to the problem. However, there are a few issues with validating the information in the article. Due to the fact that the quantitative data shared comes from the Research Council and a major research institute, the motivation behind releasing information might not be ethically sound. In recent years, recognizing the accomplishments of women as well as removing systematic barriers to inclusion/participation of women, particularly within the STEM/STEAM fields, has become increasingly important and demanded by the public. Therefore, these sources could have been biased and only released the data/information that would be seen by the public as the sources doing everything possible to solve the problem, when that might not be the truth.

A way that Powell did validify the research was ensuring that the data was dependable. The information that was presented by the MRCF was compared to that presented by the HMRI, which confirmed the same result. As well, they compared this information to similar data from the National Health and Medical Research Council which revealed that the problem is transferable and can be found in various areas, not just in funding organizations, but also locally within the research council and community.

Despite having the information verified through dependability and transferability, there is the question of confirmability, which is something that the consumer must be aware of when reading this article. Since the research presented in this article is all from internal investigations, it is essential to remember that the truth is possibly not being fully represented. If one were to find an external source, the information would be fully confirmed (or proven to be false) and the research would fully be verified. The consumer must remember their responsibility to be open to other possibilities, explanations, and solutions than presented in this article, mainly due to the local situation of this research. Also, as a woman in science that is particularly passionate about this specific topic, I must remember this responsibility and take the information at face value, rather than allowing it to affect me emotionally.

In the end, this research is partially verified, but could be strengthened with further confirmation and obtaining more data.

A cheerleader to push you to new levels. An annoyance to bug you with love. A friend to adventure and explore with. An expectation to live up to. A defender of your choices. An advisor to help decide. 

Having the privilege of growing up with an older brother is something I am endlessly thankful for, especially in my current point of life. We grew up together, but also apart with our 6 year age difference. My brother, Asa and I were going through very different stages of life at the same time which gave us both an only child but also the older/younger sibling experience. Our parents also had the ability to respect our separate life stages in a way that gave us the freedom to experience it fully but also connect with each other, it is something that I find difficult to put into words. 

 Asa and I, Early 2002

Once Asa completed a stage in life, I entered it. We never were in the same age group in school or social groups which made it challenging to have a close friendship when we were young, but became easier as we both grew. Especially once I was able to start working and was in my final years of high school. It is also really interesting to see how we both had similar interests throughout our life. We both are extremely passionate about outdoor recreation and are pursuing careers in the field. Growing up we both were (and still are) avid climbers, hikers, snowboarders, and much more. It is also interesting to see where our individuality becomes a factor in our passions. Asa is a major participant in outdoor climbing and highlining, even travelling around the world to festivals and gatherings. Whereas I am much more involved in hiking trips and outdoor education with pursuing the Outdoor Recreation and Education program at Lakehead. We both have supported and participated in the other's individual areas with interest and love while not trying to take over/assume the other’s area.

 Asa Highlining in Elora, Ontario, July 2020

My brother is actually one of the main reasons why I am in this program at all. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was difficult to convince my parents for this program, but Asa was a major help. He had been pushed to decide on a field of study because of the career potentials following it, rather than his main passion which is regarded as a “hobby” to western society. Because of this, Asa hated the schooling he was pushed into and he decided to drop out and follow his passion. He is now much happier and genuinely enjoys life. He didn't want me to experience the same thing and he defended my desire to follow my passion of outdoor education to our parents. Asa supported me so strongly that I no longer had doubt in myself for my career choices. He proved to me that being passionate about something is much more important than being successful in terms of finances. While financial success is important, there is a line between having a career purely for money and having a career that I genuinely enjoy participating in every day. My brother's support helped me to believe in myself and advocate for the things that I love and am passionate about, not just including my career, but in all areas of my life. 

Asa and I, August 2021

There exists a bottleneck for females continuing in the non-biological sciences past the Ontario provincial requirements. Many do not register or complete any chemistry or physics courses in grades 11 and 12. They are discouraged and pushed by society to pursue more “feminine” or easy fields. 

If I were a graduated student that had limitless resources, I would research what are the barriers for female high school students to pursue the non-biological sciences and how to encourage further participation. To complete this I would do quantitative research with gathering numbers from various areas of female students in grade 11/12 chemistry and/or physics versus the amount in grade 10 science. This would give a baseline statistic. Another area of quantitative research I would complete would be the amount of females in the same areas that hold jobs which require chemistry and/or physics such as pharmacology, teaching, research, and more. I believe that this will show how the representation of females in the field can influence young females entering and pursuing the field. 

This research would benefit various aspects of the chemistry and/or physics field through encouraging workforces to hire more women in the fields as then in the future, it would increase the amount of workers in the field which would cause an increase in funding and knowledge. It would also empower females to pursue their passions, regardless of what society said they should do based on their gender, creating people who are increasingly confident and content in their daily lives and actions. 

Agafia Lykov is a Russian Old Believer whose family escaped from persecution to the Siberian Taiga in 1936. The Lykov family lived in the wilderness in isolation where Agafia was born in 1944. Their family was undisturbed until 1978 when a group of geologists spotted their cabin from a helicopter. While the family of 6 chose to live in a remote and isolated cabin, it was not without struggles with short growing seasons and high levels of predator animals. Agafia's mother died from starvation so her four children could eat. After the family was discovered in 1978, Agafia’s three older siblings died from what is suspected to be pneumonia, brought to them by the geologists. Despite these struggles, Agafia has continued to live off the land, just as she had since birth, even now being the only surviving member of her family after her father's passing. She cherishes her land and way of life, as seen throughout the film to be smiling and excited to teach and have extra hands to assist in the daily tasks on the farm. Her only neighbour is Yerofei Sedov, a retired geologist who moved into his own cabin down the hill from her. Agafia has only left her home 5 times total, and each becoming severely sick, so she now welcomes researchers and students to visit her rather than travelling to cities.

This case study was conducted by Vice (USA) and was sponsored by The North Face. It is considered a microsocial study as it was framed almost exclusively through Agafia and her family’s level of reality. The individuals involved with creating the cabins and farm are the focus of the film and the research was qualitative in nature. It follows Agafia's daily life and was open towards what she would want to show and teach. As the filmmakers are from the USA and have their film sponsored by North Face (which is seen in their new and branded gear throughout), the invisible backpack they carry is one of privilege and a modern Western society. The crew sees what the Lykov family did as interesting and “freeing” in a way, when they were fleeing for their safety. Ethically it is questionable as the researchers do not seem to fully appreciate her lifestyle and everything her family risked maintaining it. lso Agafia may not know the risks the film poses as it is unknown how much Agafia understands about how her information is released to the public as she maintains an off-the-grid lifestyle and does not use the modern technology that this study was released on. There is also a large language barrier as the filmmakers do not speak Russian and have a translator to communicate through and Agafia does not speak English either.

If I were to be given the opportunity to research and communicate Agafia's story, I would approach it with a much longer timeframe. Firstly, I would ensure that Agafia would benefit in every way possible and that she understood what it means to release information in today's world and consented to it. As well to build a relationship with her over a longer period of time rather than a few days in her hardest time of year. By immersing into her lifestyle and culture, there is a greater respect and understanding built for all parties involved. Another topic that was not focused on much in the film that I would focus on more is her religion. She is one of the few remaining Old believers and the Lykov’s faith is the main reason why they adopted this way of life. To ensure that everything is representing her I would communicate and ask for consent throughout the whole process and not push for answers as she is not required to share. 

Agafia is a caring and giving person whose heart is open for anyone who needs it, this is clear even through this short film. 

References

The Outdoor Recreation program at Lakehead is unique. It allows students that have passions that cross disciplines and extend to various aspects of knowledge to pursue them. Most of the time the passions at first glance do not seem to correlate, but after looking deeper, they blend seamlessly into one another. This is what drew me here in the first place. The ability to continue in the chemistry field and build toward my end goal of becoming an educator all while learning about the outdoors. It seems strange to hear chemistry and the outdoors in the same sentence, but they build on each other through practical applications. For example, learning about the chemical content of nutrients in various food items teaches me which are best to have on trail for optimal nutrition and energy output. Growing up, my parents always pushed me to follow my passion for chemistry as it was safe and provided a guaranteed job where outdoor recreation wasn’t something that seemed to have many jobs that were financially stable. They would still support my passion for the outdoors through hobbies such as hiking, skiing, and outdoor climbing but would say that work and hobbies are different. This program provides me with work that is my hobby and incorporates my passions into one. It did take some time and research to prove to my parents that this program was the best choice for me and my goals, but having the opportunity to cross disciplines and fields was what really sold it. 

Me in approximately 2006 racing my brother down the hill while skiing

Me absolutely in love with Chemistry and seeing it in action in 2017. 

Research is crucial to proving the importance of the outdoors in our everyday lives. There is a prejudice upheld by some that outdoor recreation is not as important as other fields like physics and this must be disproven by providing solid data on its benefits, this is the exact thing I did for my parents’ approval for this program. Having chemistry and education at the same time as outdoor recreation allows me to use skills gained in one area and apply them to another to disprove this prejudice. Such as research and application skills gained in chemistry and education being used to gather information about the positive psychological impacts the outdoors has on individuals, or the economic potential of working in the outdoors. 

Having the scientific practice of proving experimental results in chemistry is extended into finding knowledge that is peer-reviewed and published by an external party. For example, scientific articles that have been peer-reviewed and their data replicated in multiple external trials are much more reliable than one article published by the same company that produces the item and only shows the data from their internal study, especially when the company will make money off of that item. A regular source of information for me is the local news/social media which I cross-reference with another news publication or articles to confirm the information is correct. As well as various journals (e.g. National Geographic) and documentaries as sources and again, cross-referencing the data. Having an analytical thought process from the sciences has supported my education by not taking the first piece of information presented to me as solid truth without finding more data to back it up. Especially throughout the past 2 years, fact-checking information has become much more essential and this has helped grow my love and respect for the outdoor recreation industry even more as data about the importance of the outdoors has been released. 

Being in the program I am in and having the opportunity to cross research fields while pursuing all my passions is something that I never thought I would be able to do for university, which is exactly what drew me here to this program. This program supports all the various paths of research and application in such a freeing way, it makes the Outdoor Recreation program at Lakehead truly unique and is what drew me here.

⛺️ This blog was created for Research Design OUTD 2511 at Lakehead University. 

🌲 The opinions expressed on this blog are my own and are not those of Lakehead University.