Gabby Dujmovic isn’t afraid to take on a challenge in the outdoors.
In May, Dujmovic began a five-month journey hiking from the U.S.-Mexico border to Manning Park, also known as the Pacific Crest Trail.
Four pairs of shoes later, she travelled over 3,600 kilometres on foot, ending her trip back to Canada in early October.
But the 22-year-old said she couldn’t have done it without the skills she learned in her outdoor recreation management program at Capilano University.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the program. More than 200 Capilano University alumni, instructors and current students came together to the North Vancouver campus Oct. 26 to celebrate the milestone, but also paying tribute to how much outdoor recreation has changed in B.C.
“Knowing that [my mentors] played such a huge role in me thinking about going on that trip, of me believing that I could do that, and then accomplishing that was a really cool experience,” Dujmovic said.
OREC founder Brian White gave a presentation of the history of the first two decades of the program.
White founded the program in 1970, when the early days of the program were large trips such as 10-day expeditions in Cathedral Provincial Park in Keremeos.
Dujmovic was one of the people who helped organize the reunion alongside Capilano instructor Roy Jantzen.
More than $4,000 was collected for the OREC alumni bursary and silent auction with proceeds supporting current students in financial need.
“It was just really awesome to see so many people connect and unite over one thing we all had in common,” Dujmovic said.
Born and raised in Maple Ridge, Dujmovic was always surrounded by nature. Her interest sparked at 14-years-old when she began watching ‘thru hiking videos’ on YouTube.
In Grade 10, she took an outdoor education course, where every Friday the class would go on a field trip relating to what they talked about previously that week.
“I just thought, ‘Wow, I have to do this forever,’” Dujmovic said. “I really believe that kids should be outside more, so I really wanted to work in outdoor education.”
Shortly after, Dujmovic signed up for the OREC program in 2020 and graduated in May with a tourism management degree. But the programs are more than just outdoors, it’s also financial planning and risk management.
Graduates of the OREC program can become outdoor educators, park rangers, rescue technicians and those with the tourism degree can get jobs on the management side of the tourism industry in hotels, tourism information of events planning.
A changing industry
Jantzen, who has been a Capilano University instructor in the tourism and outdoor recreation faculty for 24 years, has seen a huge change in the outdoor recreation industry.
When Jantzen took the OREC program from 1989 to 1991, there were few opportunities, leading graduates to create their own businesses, he said.
Jantzen launched his own nature tour business in Whitehorse and still runs it today. In 1999, he was asked to lead one of the OREC program courses and has taught ever since.
But now, Jantzen has seen more career opportunities flourish over the last two decades.
“There’s just so many different opportunities that you could go to,” he said. “Now you see people in adventure therapy, more with parks, outdoor recreation camps, rescue technicians, those things.”
“Typically, when you look at outdoor recreation, you think ‘Oh, this is fun. This is playing in the outdoors.’ But the seriousness of it is that if you are not professional and you’re not aware of the safety issues, things could go the wrong way.”
With the environmental issues we are seeing around the world, Jantzen said he thinks students will have a demand in learning about how to be more environmentally friendly in the industry.
The core values of the program Jantzen said are graduates being changemakers, building a sense of community, but also being professional and sees that continuing.
“They really are lovers of the natural world,” Jantzen said. “We’re making sure that students know when they leave this program, they are leading people.”
Capilano University will have an open house learning more about the OREC program at the North Vancouver campus on Nov. 30 and Squamish campus Dec. 7.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. [email protected]
