THUNDER BAY – When Aseel Hashim started to put together plans for a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other people of colour) outdoor adventures club at Lakehead University, only a handful of students came to the first event.
As 2024 draws to a close, the club now features 200 members.
“It’s been quite the journey,” Hashim said. “I’m really proud of the community that we were able to build and I’m really amazed with how this program has blossomed so quickly.
“I was hoping for it to get that big, but I wasn’t expecting it to happen so fast. However, once people started to come, they were telling their friends and from there … it just started to become a bigger community.”
Among the events that the club has held over the last few months has included picnics and hikes at Centennial Park and Kakabeka Falls, a canoeing day on Boulevard Lake, a camping trip at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park and a hike at Pigeon River Provincial Park.
“The things that we have done have a been a big eye-opener for a lot of the students,” Hashim said. “Many of them said that they didn’t know that this club existed at first and lot of them missed out on these opportunities, especially as international students of colour.
“For some of my team members that are now in leadership roles, they are so grateful and thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the club. The thing that I hear the most from them is that ‘I get to be involved in the outdoors, have fun, be with like-minded people and get to practice leadership skills.’”
After last year’s unseasonable conditions led to many of the winter activities being cancelled, the club is hoping that Mother Nature cooperates over the next few months.
“Our team is planning to have skiing and tobogganing events, along with skating, which has been a real popular suggestion among the club’s members,” Hashim said.
“We’re also bringing back our ‘Winter 101’ workshop on how to camp and do certain outdoor activities in the winter. A lot of the students that joined the club later on heard about it and said that they wanted us to do that again this year.”
There will also soon be some changes within the club.
Hashim will be transferring her president role to another member of the leadership group as she wrapped up her Masters of Public Health studies last month.
“It’s the end of one chapter for me but I’m excited to see what’s next for both myself and the club,” Hashim said.
More information on the BIPOC outdoor adventures club can be found by visiting the official Instagram page.
