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Alta states: Live, work, play

Pemberton, the GEMS school and Jordan Sturdy
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Jordan Sturdy weights in

I have a thing for education. Call me nerdy. Call me oddball even. But I think learning is cool. In fact, I predict the 21 st century is going to be all about pedagogy.

Say what? You heard me — the future is going to be all about learning how to learn. Whether it’s new languages or new computer skills, math literacy or simply knowing how to read properly, those who actually learn how to learn will find themselves with the tools to adapt and thrive in the fast-changing world of tomorrow. Meanwhile, those who remain in the same spot, treading water and trying not to be subsumed by the tsunami of new stimuli, will drown. It’s that simple.

Okay. So I’m not talking conventional schooling here. I’m talking the future.

Try, for just a moment, to put aside your previous conception of what “school” means. Now imagine lifelong learning centres where students and teachers are excited about attending classes there. Places that stimulate and challenge and push individuals to raise their game to the next level. Institutions that offer all sorts of different learning methods and relevant teaching modes; that actually inspire people to think rather than just mimic.

To me it’s a no-brainer (if you’ll excuse the pun). Learning is fun if it’s presented in the proper context. And it makes life way more interesting. I mean, everybody has an anecdote about a favourite renegade teacher who turned their school experience around. Each of us, in our own hearts, knows how easy it is to be touched by the learning muse.

Now if you push that kind of thinking to its logical extremes, it becomes immediately apparent that mountain resort communities provide eminently suitable environments to experiment with different learning and teaching models.

Why? Because they’re fun places to hang out. They’re youthful places and they attract outgoing, passionate, risk-taking people who aren’t afraid to try new things. Besides, the mountain environment offers its own inspiring dimensions. Seriously — would you rather attend a seminar in downtown Toronto or one at the base of Aspen?

More importantly, from an economic perspective, mountain tourism and education complement each other perfectly. Think about it: is a university campus really different in atmosphere than the Whistler towncentre? Not all that much actually…

We can talk about diversification all day long, but when push comes to shove there aren’t a lot of industries that are compatible with tourism. B.C.’s traditional extraction businesses certainly aren’t. It turns out that education is one of the few sectors that is.

That’s why the GEMS World School project in Pemberton makes so much sense to me. An international program with a stellar reputation (check it out on Google), the GEMS concept seems ideally suited to our northern neighbour. Far enough away from Whistler to establish its own story, but close enough to the mountains to piggy-back on the Whistler buzz, it represents to me all that is promising about the future economy of Sea to Sky country.

An aside: anybody who has visited the Lester B Pearson World College on Vancouver Island will understand what I’m talking about. While the GEMS school is structured differently, its curriculum and teaching approach is quite similar.

Imagine my discomfiture then when I heard about the little dust-up between Mayor Melamed of Whistler and Mayor Sturdy of Pemberton over the future of the GEMS project.

Now Mayor Ken and I have already agreed to disagree about the need for more educational facilities in the corridor. A few years back I proposed to the municipality that the new athletes’ village should be transformed into a college campus after the 2010 Games. I believed that the Olympic legacy should aim higher than simply providing affordable housing for locals. I also believed that Whistler’s ultimate sustainability lay in developing ways to showcase the community as a “living laboratory”, a unique resort-town experiment that could be studied in situ . Ken’s objection: “We don’t need any more employers in this town.”

He won that round. But I still think Whistler missed out on an opportunity there.

So I wasn’t that surprised to hear that Melamed had cast a jaundiced eye on the GEMS proposal — especially given that part of the land to be set aside for the new campus fell within the Agricultural Land Reserve. Still, his attitude seemed just a bit contentious.

In a recent interview with the Pique, Melamed sounded suspiciously like the pot calling the kettle black when he said: “The property values (in Pemberton) are increasing and the question was, is a proposal like GEMS going to further contribute to these price pressures and make it more challenging to get affordable housing?”

What? Did he really say that? Does he really believe that the gentrification process in Pemberton is going to accelerate because of GEMS? And what about Whistler’s impact on prices in recent years? Sounds to me like our mayor simply wants Pemberton to remain a cheap bedroom community for Whistler employees…

“I certainly picked up on the irony of his comments,” laughs Pemberton’s mayor, Jordan Sturdy. “But seriously, I did take exception to his words. I think that this could be a really good thing for our community. It’s about opportunity — where do we want to go in the future; what do we want to become. You see, I really believe in the idea of ‘Live; Work; Play’. And I’m committed to developing that kind of an economy in Pemberton. Which means diversifying our business base to include all sorts of progressive new initiatives — like the GEMS school.”

He sighs. Tries to smile. “Regardless, this is a decision for the residents of Pemberton — not for the mayor of Whistler…”

Sturdy is an interesting character. Confident, outgoing, funny and well spoken, the fortysomething born-again farmer — “I’ve now got 40 acres under cultivation,” he says proudly — is the quintessential Nouveau Pembertonian . It’s not exactly like he’s living his Green Acres fantasy, but he’s not your typical hands-in-the-earth farmer guy either. And like so many others who’ve moved to the Pemberton Valley in the last 20 years, his vision for the community extends well beyond its farming and logging roots.

“We’re living in one of the most attractive regions in the world,” he says. “And we’re going to grow — whether we like it or not. Look at Pemberton: we now have nearly 3,000 people living in the village, 15 years ago that number was 300! The challenge today: how do we balance growth with quality of life?” He chuckles. “And there’s no easy answer to that one.”

Still, I’m curious. So how did a city kid end up living in Pemberton growing corn and raising cows? Easy, Sturdy tells me. He became hooked on skiing and climbing.

Disillusioned with his 9-5 life in Vancouver in the late 1980s — “I caught myself on a Monday morning already planning my Friday afternoon escape to Whistler.” — Sturdy decided one day to drop out of the urban rat race and become a mountain guide instead.

Another mirth-filled laugh. “That spring, I went to Banff and took the ACMG assistant’s guide course — which I failed! But it completely changed my life.” Imbued with a new sense of mission, he convinced Arthur De Jong the next winter to hire him on as a pro patroller at Blackcomb Mountain. The year was 1989. He’s still a patroller today.

“I ended up renting a trailer on a farm in Pemberton that first winter,” he recounts. “The next year the owner decided to put it on the market. He wanted $200,000 for it. But there were absolutely no takers.” He smiles. “I had my eye on a place in Whistler by then, but when I talked it over with my mother she convinced me that buying 60 acres in Pemberton was a way better deal. Little did I know what I was getting into…”

He never planned on being a farmer, he admits. “But when you own a piece of property like this, you soon realize how quickly it can return to its ‘natural’ state.” So he bought a few cows, started growing some corn, then some raspberries, and then some.... “It just kind of evolved,” he says.

And then he laughs again. “It’s a wonderful job — kind of like politics… great fun, lots of learning but not a lot of money.” And then he stops speaking.

I can tell he’s looking for just the right way to couch his closing statement (after all, he is a politician). “But to get back to the subject at hand,” he finally says, “one of our goals should be that we don’t have to rely on Whistler — or anyone else — for our employment. Whether it’s GEMS, the airport expansion or the music festival, my aim is to help folks here realize the ambition of living, playing and working in their own community by making informed decisions that reflect our values.” He sighs. “To me, that’s the key.”