Grad Success Stories

Outdoor Adventure graduates have gone on to achieve success in the outdoor adventure industry. Here are just a few of their success stories.

2020 marked the 20th anniversary of our Outdoor Adventure program! Our 20 Years of the Outdoor Adventure Program page is dedicated to celebrating the history of our program and the successes of our graduates. Check it out.

A group of Outdoor Adventure graduates were honoured with Changemaker Awards from the College’s Board of Governors.

The five students – Matthew Asselin, Connor Hamilton, Connor Furneaux, Alexander Gueeds Guardado, and Jacob Groulx – were recognized for an applied research project they conducted in Iceland.

Using the skills they’d acquired in their program, including leadership techniques, risk management assessment, and organizing large-scale travel, the team travelled to Iceland to carry out research on how fat-bike technology can be used to foster Iceland’s geo-tourism potential, while, at the same time, protecting its fragile ecosystem.

Over the course of the project – entitled, appropriately enough, the Fat Bike Sustainable Geo-tourism Initiative – the students maintained a blog, recounting their adventures and their work in Iceland’s “beautiful landscape.”

The Student Changemaker Award was established by the Board of Governors to formally recognize remarkable achievements. The term Changemaker was coined by the social entrepreneur organization Ashoka, and refers to those who seek knowledge and find ways to change the world for the better.

Photo Credit: www.cardrona.com

Connor Hamilton (2018) is currently a Bike School Instructor at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand home to the highest mountain bike park. Connor was featured in a recent Cardrona blog and asked why he loves teaching. “Seeing the huge grins on people’s faces and creating a day they won’t forget. When someone gets to the bottom of a trail and they’re beaming with excitement, it reminds me why I do this day in and day out.”

Stephane Gunner (2018) is the Administrator, Mistissini Cree Nation Outfitters, one of the largest Cree community outfitters in James Bay, QC.

Miles Arbour (2016) landed on Algonquin College’s Outdoor Adventure Program after graduating from Trent University’s Business Administration Program—but was unsure about working in just any industry. Since graduating, Miles has immersed himself in the growing world of bikepacking. First as a custom frame bag maker and then as an editor and writer for BIKEPACKING.com, where he continues to work today. The nature of this work has allowed Miles to travel extensively, working remotely for half of the year, and connect with talented individuals from all over the world. Miles can often be found living out in British Columbia but lives in a self-converted cargo van so he is always on the move. See more of his work here.

Cedar Jasiuk (2012) is a river guide for the award-winning travel company, Canoe North Adventures, in the Northwest Territories. Cedar has been featured a number of times in various outdoor living magazines including most recently, Mountain Life magazine and Spectacular Northwest Territories magazine. Cedar also recently lead an expedition with Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions to the South Pole!

Ted Morton (2011) is the Event Director for BC Enduro Series and Canadian National Enduro Championship. The BC Enduro Series is a ten destination mountain bike adventure experience, thinly disguised as a race. It has many secondary programs and is the sister company to the Trans BC and Trans NZ 5-day mountain bike races.

Damon Stapinsky (2009) is the owner/operator of Wildcoast Adventures on B.C.’s Quadra Island. His company has grown to offer a wide range of premium sea kayak-based Orca whale watching adventures. Check out his award-winning reviews on TripAdvisor! Damon also employs several of our program graduates as guides.

Damon certainly takes the risk assessment and management he learned in the Outdoor Adventure program to heart. While observing a mother Humpback nursing her calf from a safe distance away, the whales finish up and dove down. What happened next took everyone by surprise!

Damon and former ODA classmate, Rob Bender (2009) recently purchased Nimbus Paddles based in Heriot Bay, BC, where they design and craft handmade premium quality paddles. These two grads and businessmen have taken their passion for the outdoors and grown a business model that works. The business skills that Damon and Rob learned in the ODA program gave them the foundation to become entrepreneurs.

Damon has also been building Nimbus kayaks for Steve Schleicher for the past seven years during the winter months and also works with Quark Expedition as an Expedition Guide. With Quark, he does guiding around the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands.

“The outdoors was my calling before I enrolled in the Outdoor Adventure program. Originally, I wanted to run a pool as a pool director, but one day I heard a radio ad talking about the Outdoor Adventure program at Algonquin College and it clicked for me. I had enjoyed working at camps and outdoor centres so why not make it a career? So, I took the leap and I have enjoyed working in the outdoors every day since, always with a smile on my face.

I graduated in 2007 and continue to work in the industry. Recently, I was teaching Outdoor Adventure students about winter camping and I also do some training with Canadian Wilderness Medical Training. This interests me because I have furthered my education and am now a paramedic.

Here’s my best advice for you. The dawn is breaking on unseen opportunities and you are where you are, ready to pivot and take advantage of the opportunity. So, climb over walls, paddle turbulent waters, explore to make the path easier for the next, treat peoples’ wounds with respect, and fall off your bike to get back on, to try again. You don’t know what you can accomplish until you try.”

-Jim Butterworth (2007)

Lisa Roddick (2005) spends her winters as a professional ski patroller at and her summers as a via ferrata guide, designing and creating cabled climbing route on the steep mountainside at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Since graduating, Lisa has been busy building her professional career as an outdoorswoman teaching skiing, raft guiding, becoming an accomplished whitewater kayaker, and becoming a highly trained member of Golden and District Search and Rescue. On top of all this, she also works ambulance shifts as an emergency medical responder.

Joanne Smith (2005) is the Executive Director of Active Challenge, an adventure-based camp program where youth develop healthy lifestyles, lose weight, and build confidence. After graduation, Joanne worked for Australia’s Outdoor Education Group as a school coordinator before returning to Canada to run Active Challenge. While at Algonquin College, Joanne was a Director of the Students’ Association.

Leslie Timms (2005) is an elite climber and rock climbing guide. Leslie is one of Canada’s most talented women climbers, sending routes up to ridiculously hard 5.14a, putting her in a very exclusive group on the leading edge of the sport (be they, men or women!). Check out her company’s website, On The Rocks Climbing and her blog chronicling her rock climbing adventures around the world.

Marcie Trenholm started in the day lodge at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort before eventually moving to mountain safety. Meanwhile, she took a job with Glacier Raft Company in the summer and started to work her way towards becoming a whitewater raft guide.

Matt Aird (2004), a BC whitewater rafting guide and paramedic, was chosen as a participant in The Brigade: Race to the Hudson. The participants must work as a team to traverse 1,200 kilometres of the infamous York Factory Express in 28 days with $500,000 on the line. Cutting through the heart of Canada’s harshest wilderness, the York Factory Express was one of the most treacherous fur trade routes of the 19th century. Beginning on the windswept shores of the Pacific Ocean, it follows the Columbia River northwest through the glacier-fed currents of the Wood River, over the gruelling trails of the Rocky Mountain’s Athabasca Pass, ending on the icy shores of the Hudson Bay.

Job prospects

Tourism is Canada’s industry, with Adventure and Ecotourism as the fastest-growing individual segment at 15% per year (according to the Canadian Tourism Commission). The estimated 10,000 Outdoor Tourism companies in Canada struggle to find certified, trained staff, and regularly recruit and post positions through our program. Graduates may find employment opportunities as guides or instructors in their activities of choice, as well as in supervisory and management positions.