For students at Riverdale High School, Monday’s afternoon activity was the culmination of a lot of hard work.
Over two years, wood working teacher Peter Oland and 80 of his students worked on their masterpiece: a 5-metre cedar strip canoe.
After all that work, the biggest question of all was: “would it float?”
“During the year I thought it was just a project to do,” explained student Jake Applebaum. “It didn’t really hit me until I was on the water, and I was like ‘wow, we actually did this ourselves.’”
The project started in September 2016, when grade 11 students did the first chunk of work. This year’s class finished it up.
For those involved, it’s much more than just a canoe – it’s an example of perseverance.
“When the kids ran into a challenge, they asked for support. They helped each other, which is a really fun work environment,” Oland said.
The canoe turned out so well, it even won a $5,000 local prize.
The money will be put towards building the next canoe and upgrading the school’s wood working shop.
“The boat is collectively owned. Everyone who helped build it, owns it,” Oland explained. “And it lives here at the school – but any of them can come at any time and borrow it.”
