The Strata Odyssey

Odysseys are bi-annual school-wide trips that happen at the beginning and end of every school year.

The Strata Odyssey offers an opportunity for learning to be extended beyond the classroom as students are immersed in the environments, settings, and situations they have studied in class. Odysseys are events of such importance to individual and community growth and such an integral part of our curriculum that they are mandatory.

Ella’s Odyssey Experience

I didn’t want to go on my first Odyssey, to be honest. I didn’t go to school the week before the trip, and we had met any of our classmates before we left on the trip. I boarded the bus not knowing anyone and I was super nervous. When we arrived, we took a boat over to an island and we were assigned cabins by our guides. My cabin mates were so nice and welcoming. They were a year older, so they’d been on the Odyssey before. By night, we were already good friends and I felt way more settled and excited to be there.

On our first day, we left for the canoe trip. We had a three kilometre portage and it was really hard, but when we got to the campsite at night, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

I’d never portaged or canoed before. That night, everyone played games and made up skits together and it was so much fun.

We continued our canoeing the second day, and we went to a different campsite. It was a really hard day, and when we arrived at the campsite, we all sat on the rocks together. Everyone started crying because they were so tired and overwhelmed! It was hard, but we were all in it together, and we had each other to lean on.

One thing that was special to me was when we were canoeing, we visited some Indigenous hieroglyphics.

We got to talk about them and give offerings to a spirit that lives in the water. People say if you give the spirit an offering, you will pass by safely, which we did.

We canoed back to the main parking lots on our last day at the shore of the lake. As we reached the shore, I felt relieved to be done, but also good about myself that I had done this incredible thing, met so many amazing people and made so many memories.

To my surprise, I even felt excited to go on the spring Odyssey! That’s why I think the Odyssey is a very important experience to have as a Strata student.