Outdoor Education: Snowshoeing

Words by Valerie Lin

Video by Valerie Lin

Interview: Hana Kamimura

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At Hokkaido International School we value the outdoors! Kids are encouraged to enjoy time outside and there is even a high school and middle school class devoted to HIS's strongest pillar. The 2024-2025 MS Outdoors Teacher-Leader is Ms. Tricia. Through her guidance, students have learned a lot more about the outdoors and have increased their appreciation for spending time outside, no matter the season. 

This time middle school outdoor education students went snow-shoeing! New to a lot of students, students first had to figure out how to put the snowshoes on; people who knew helped others. On the first day, we began at the school field, practicing how to walk with snowshoes on; students also did a race in their snowshoes. It was a lot of fun! One thing I enjoyed the most is that we didn’t just snow-shoe, Ms. Trica also gave us free time! Students were doing whatever they wanted in the outdoors. Most students were sledding, while others made a snowman. Play, after all, is so good for us!

In the next class, two days later, we went to Tenjinyama Park. We left the school right after lunch, and we walked for around 10-15 minutes. We had a lot of fun there. It was powder snow, fluffy like marshmallows, white like cotton! Students snow-shoed up the hill, a pretty long distance; it was so fun because when you put on snowshoes, your footprint became big! I was trying to make fake Yeti footprints! 

While snowshoeing, we also saw small animals’ footprints, possibly squirrels' or rabbits'. And once more, after our snowshoe was done, we had free time! Some students climbed high up, while others built more snowmen. On the way back, we discovered a small slope, which some of us began to run down. Although Ms. Tricia hadn't planned on doing that herself, our joy was contagious and she joined in! 

I enjoy outdoor education. I have learned a lot about the outdoors, and I think it’s the most entertaining and important class for me. In this technology world, going outside and escaping all the screens and devices is what we need. We also get to learn new things—like a lot of things I didn’t know before joining the middle school outdoor education class. Being fond of nature is important. And even though technology is important in this world, I think that enjoying the outdoors is more important than technology. Being outside keeps us healthy and well—it grows us. In the words of our school theme, the outdoors helps us kaizen.