Pear Tree is celebrating it’s 1st year anniversary!

So much has happened in one year that it seems longer

After our March 2012 Open House, we launched with our first Pear Tree Spring Break Camp. Considering we were a completely new educational company, we had a surprisingly good turn out, and some of those customers have remained our most passionate customers ever since! So, a big ‘thank you’ to them!
Then, Pear Tree had its first big field trip to release its first batch of Coho salmon fry. We were joined by the Union Gospel Mission, which saw our first endeavour to reach out to the community and do what we can to make 21st century education more accessible to kids in real need. The salmon release was a truly amazing experience for everyone.
In April we had our first after-school classes. We introduced our Night Creatures course, which involved the study of owls and bats. As part of the course, we had a guest visit from the OWL sanctuary, based in Delta. It was an incredible opportunity for Pear Tree’s students to see owls up close. They are such beautiful and fascinating creatures.
In July and part of August, Pear Tree ran not only it’s first Summer Camps, but also its first Summer ESL School at UBC. All of the hard work was really worth it, as we had the opportunity to work with a wide range of amazing staff and students.
Our summer ESL school is the only time that Pear Tree is joined by international students. All of Pear Tree’s camps attract people beyond Canada’s borders! Our students have included people from the USA, South Africa, Japan, Korea, and China. And even locally, we get many students from North Vancouver, West Vancouver, White Rock, Surrey, Burnaby, and New Westminster.
In September, we were joined by an adorable cornsnake: ‘Kinkster’. She was loaned to us for our first ever Reptiles & Amphibians course. We’d like to thank Morgan, once again, for trusting us with the little Kinkster! She has become a semi-permanent resident of Pear Tree, and we can’t imagine Pear Tree without her! As with all of our courses, we made sure that this was hands-on, connected to real life, and incorporated all subject areas.
In January, we commenced our first proper Salmon in the Classroom project! Although we intended to do this in 2012, infuriating development and building permit delays made sure that this never happened… Oh well. This year, there were no bureaucratic obstacles. Pear Tree’s students got to study Coho salmon – including real salmon eggs – in true depth and scope, and will be going on another amazing salmon release field trip in April.
Since long before Day One, Pear Tree has strived to provide the education and opportunities that kids deserve and need. Therefore, much of what we do is different from what other companies offer, because education needs to include 21st century skills (hands-on learning. real-life application / entrepreneurship, collaboration, integrated subjects, theme/project-based learning, creativity, technology, and highly-qualified teachers).
We have no doubt that Pear Tree will continue to break new grounds in education, and will provide unique and rewarding educational opportunities for kids in Vancouver and beyond.
On that note, Alexis and I would like to thank all of the parents and others that have supported us throughout the year and continue to support us now. 2013 is building up to be an even bigger year! Our 2013 Spring Break camp has a very large turn out indeed!