#orpt

Prompt: “Firstly, what has drawn you to this academic program? Secondly, as a consumer of knowledge, who do you rely upon for information? Consider perhaps three or more "sources". How do you ensure this information is reliable?  How does this relate to this program?” - Dr. Hooykaas

The world of Outdoor Recreation was not something that I knew existed until I was in grade 12 and starting to look at post secondary options. Some Guy, named Aaron came to my high school and told me all about this program called Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism. I knew I wanted to go to school for something I loved to do because I thought it would help me to be more driven and engaged in whatever I was studying. Outdoor recreation created a path for where not only can I work in a field doing what I love but it gives me the opportunity to share it with others who may not have had the same kind of opportunities. I grew up camping, being a member of Girl Guides of Canada (all the outdoor experiences that come with that) and a father who taught an outdoor education program called “beyond the walls”. Although that course was not offered when I was in high school, something about the opportunity to study outdoor recreation professionally makes me think it is entirely possible to bring that course back and support many others with a passion for the outdoors. 

When I read the second prompt for the first time I immediately thought: I rely on my parents for information. Although they are not always right I know I can trust them and if I don’t believe them, I question them on it. After reading other blog posts, I thought my answer to this question was all wrong.  Upon further reflection, I think it still stands true. Maybe my parents are not an academic peer reviewed journal but they are both university graduates, teachers and, some of the most important things I know, I learned from them. 

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.

Blog Prompt #6 (Provided by Dr. Amanda Hooykaas): You have five minutes to interview a key thinker who represents your field of inquiry (for the podcast project). To do this you must:

1) Identify who you are interviewing and why

2) List five clear interview questions (and what insight you hope to get out of each)

3) Provide a brief overview/summary that discusses how you decided on these questions (referencing the textbook would be helpful here!).

In your response to a peer, please provide feedback on how effective these questions might be at addressing the aims of the interviewer. How might they be improved? On what basis?

If I had 5 minutes to interview a key thinker who represents and has experience with the allures of Thunder Bay, I would interview my old Pathfinder/Ranger leader, Richella.

Here is Richella and I skiing at Kamview on this past Reading Week! Photo Credit: Richella

I would interview Richella as not only is she a grad of the ORPT program and knows about tourism, but she has worked with organizations, such as Outward Bound, The Girls and Boys Club of Canada, and at the Girl Guides of Canada's(GGC) Ontario Head Office and multiple GGC camps. Richella is currently back up here in Thunder Bay doing her Education Degree, and that is part of the reason I picked to “interview” her. I think “interviewing” Richella would be beneficial to my podcast group and our topic, as I would have thought she might have picked to do her degree somewhere closer to Toronto, as that is currently where she and her family live; and finding out her reasons for coming up here, what stuck and drew her back up her after so long, would be very beneficial to my podcast group’s project.

The 5 questions I would ask Richella are:

What drew you to come to Lakehead for your undergrad/the ORPT program?

What is one thing you remember about your time in the city? Something that has stuck with you?

Is that what also drew you to come back to LU for your Education Degree? Or was it something else entirely?

Did you consider any other schools for your education degree? Possibly ones closer to your family?

What is one place you have been to that you would recommend for potential and/or current Lakehead University students to check out?

My love of the outdoors is initially what drew me to the Outdoor Recreation Program. I took a year and a half off after high school. Ten months of this time was spent as an intern. The remaining time was spent desperately looking for work, trying to figure out what I would go to school for, and spending my days out on the land solo hiking, mountain biking, and camping. Whenever people would run into me when I was on a solo backpacking or hiking trip, they would remark how they could never do a trip alone and seemed shocked that I would be out in the woods alone as a young female. This should not be a shocking instance, and after a summer and fall spent on the land, I realized that I wanted a career in outdoor recreation, helping others develop the confidence and skills to be self-sufficient, competent outdoor enthusiasts. I recognize the holistic benefits that come from partaking in outdoor recreation and want to help others access them. The decision was solidified in October of 2020 when I hiked Mount Rose with one of my friends who is an ORPT grad. She told me about her first-hand experience with the program and that was enough to dispel any doubts I had about ORPT being the right fit for me. As it was, I could not really picture myself doing any other program, aside from maybe firefighting at the college.

When it comes to consumption of knowledge, I avoid social media as a source. Social media is an echo-chamber that simply confirms your own worldview. I try to make sure I have reputable sources. To narrow down the hunt when it comes to assignments, I have three primary overarching ways to find online scholarly sources. None of them are specific to outdoor recreation, and they serve to narrow down sources – they are not actual journals themselves.

1. Google Scholar. Google Scholar is not always necessarily the best, but it generally works as a good starting point for finding academic journals and books.

2. Lakehead University Library Databases. The library database is incredibly extensive and offers many scholarly sources.

3. TBPL Virtual Database. The Thunder Bay Public Library also has its own extensive virtual research database. You can access it with a library card. (I grew up in Thunder Bay so I currently have an active card).

Using databases helps to filter out fraudulent information. For online sources, I look for scholarly, peer-reviewed work. Cross-referencing sources is also important to ensure accuracy of information. When the library is open again, I am sure I will use the Lakehead Library for research too.

After this week’s class I also have a solid list of journals and publishers to avoid, thanks to Jeffrey Beall.

If the information I am looking for is not for academic research purposes, I generally look for reputable news sites and avoid anything tabloid-like or opinion-based blogs. I look for articles that have sources cited. I also pay attention to the URL and look for .edu, .org, or .ca. As I mentioned, anything I see on social media gets no weight assigned to it until I have cross-referenced it with other sources.