91大黄鸭 Secondary School media teacher Jonathan Derksen is taking students on a trip of a lifetime.

Derksen, along with nine others, are travelling to Yellowstone National Park this summer to expand their media knowledge by creating their own documentaries.

Organized by non-profit Ecology Project International, the students will test their media skills by following field biologists as they study bears, bison and wolves in the park.

They鈥檒l be off the grid, camping, filming and at the end of the excursion, enjoying white-water river rafting.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty empowering for these guys,鈥� said Derksen. 鈥淗ow do animals in this environment adapt to an area that鈥檚 so geologically active?鈥�

The idea started from a project last year, when students visited an animal rescue shelter in Bolivia and recorded footage for short micro-documentaries.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a field trip. It鈥檚 students that actually are crew and you need to be able to rely on them as adults,鈥� said Derksen.

This year, a mix of graduates from KSS, current students and a few others will create their own individual projects in various forms of media, whether it鈥檚 writing, filming, or photography. All of the project鈥檚 will be centred around conservation.

鈥淗ow do we use our media skills towards the conservation end? It鈥檚 something I wanted to do for a long time,鈥� said Derksen, who has worked for National Geographic and Discovery Channel鈥檚 Daily Planet.

He also plans to produce a mini-documentary on the students鈥� experience.

As part of the crew, this will be recent KSS graduates Devon Nagle and Kenzie Gorjanc鈥檚 first time in Yellowstone National Park.

鈥淚鈥檓 pretty excited鈥� we get to go past public lines,鈥� said Nagle, who is focusing on photography and writing for the trip.

Nagle was a student and teacher鈥檚 assistant in Derksen鈥檚 class. She鈥檚 attending the University of Toronto in the fall for criminology, but she considers journalism as her plan B.

鈥淚鈥檝e always had an interest in journalism and photography and it was a cool class,鈥� she said.

Her parents loved the park, so they encouraged Nagle to attend the expedition and she鈥檚 looking forward to studying the wolves.

Gorjanc is also interested in documenting wolves and carries a passion for travel journalism.

鈥淚鈥檝e always been an outdoorsy person. I love backpacking. In the past few years I鈥檝e seen so much change in B.C. just with people disrespecting nature and damage happening to it. I want to see Yellowstone before it鈥檚 too late. I want to get a better understanding of the place and see it for what it is,鈥� said Gorjanc.

She has an interest in writing, which will be the focus of her project. The trip cost $2,300 for Gorjanc which doesn鈥檛 include travel expenses as the trip is not funded by the high school.

For Derksen, he aims to go above the student/teacher relationship.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 how I grew up, with educators that really saw the relationship as beyond teacher, but much more mentorship-oriented,鈥� he said.

While working in boarding schools in India, he said he had more influence on the students as a mentor, something he鈥檚 carried over to his teaching at KSS.

鈥淲e got to see where they took those talents, part of it was the students were always at the school, but I had a much more uncle-like role, which I miss coming back to Canada,鈥� said Derksen.

鈥淚 thought what鈥檚 a way we can build that mentor foundation in a B.C. school system.鈥�

Watch the student鈥檚 previous adventures on YouTube by searching ArtofAdventure.

The group will spend time in the park from Aug. 1 to 9.