Mountain View School Division is running a contest to help give their land-based learning a bit of a creative touch.
Indigenous Education Facilitator Melissa Ferland said to get that creative boost, they're turning to a source that's right in front of them.
"We have four blank ice shacks right now, and the contest is for all students in Mountain View School Division to submit a design for the four shacks...the theme of the challenge is to answer the question, what does it mean to live, learn, and have relationships with the land and water in the Parkland," said Ferland.
In their Facebook post announcing the contest, MVSD says designs might include things like land and water, fish, animals, and plants, and Indigenous culture, teachings, or languages.
The ice shacks aren't a new part of their land-based learning - they were used last year, but they were pretty bland. Ferland said the contest is a good way to let students have a bit of influence on the programming, and to develop a personal connection.
"We actually used the shacks last year for our land-based programming, we were able to take 355 students out on the ice last year, and then that's when we really noticed that the shacks were looking pretty plain, they're plain white on the snow, it wasn't really the best...we wanted to get student input on the creation of the design, to give it some meaning, have some student input so that they can feel more of an ownership over the whole programming," said Ferland.
Winning students will get to paint their designs on the ice shacks themselves. The contest runs until October 23rd, so students have plenty of time to think up some meaningful designs.
