Kingston Branch Looks to the Future to Start off 2013
New Location, New Briefing for New Year
Article and Photos by 25366 Mike Shewfelt
The Kingston Branch of the RMC Club of Canada started the new year off with a new location for their monthly luncheon, and, appropriately, with a briefing on the goals and the future of the RMC Expedition Club. With the College Senior Staff Mess (SSM) currently undergoing renovations, the Branch members met in the Cadet Formal mess for drinks before heading downstairs for lunch before heading back upstairs for the briefing by members of the Expedition Club. The temporary location of the SSM, just off the Cadet Dining Hall, allowed Branch members to mingle with Cadets over lunch, something they don’t normally get to do.
Following lunch, 26268 OCdt (II) Stéphanie Paquette, 25982 OCdt (III) Colin Strong and 25919 OCdt (III) Raakesh Bharathi gave the Branch members a look at the short history and future plans of the Expedition Club. The Club, which got its start in 2010, is quickly becoming one of the College’s most popular, as well as one of its most ambitious. The Cadets gave the Kingston Branch an overview of just how the Club operates, including a look at the Club’s 3-part mandate of adventure training, cultural interaction, and academic research, before talking about just where the Club members have been to and just what they have done. (Click to enlarge photos.)
The Club has some pretty impressive accomplishments to date, as OCdt Paquette explained. She is the current Club President, having taken over OCdt Strong, and during the summer of 2012 she participated in an ultra-marathon on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. OCdt Bharathi spent time in the Amazon, with a number of other Cadets, during the 2012 Amazon expedition. Club members have also summited Mt. Aconcagua in South America, and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.
“One of our big problems is funding,” OCdt Strong told the group. “We’re trying to build a sustainable program, where one third of the costs of expeditions are raised by the Cadets, one third come from the Cadets themselves, and one third comes from the College or the RMC Foundation.” Taking 20 Cadets on the planned Arctic 2013 expedition, for example, will cost a total of over $100 000, all of which has to come from somewhere. “Expeditions that have been refused funding, including the Amazon expedition and the Baffin Island ultra-marathon, were executed at personal cost, and as a result were limited by the resources of the Cadets involved.”
Despite the costs, and the inherent safety risks present in all the Expedition Club does (safety is the first priority on expeditions, however), the Club has a lot to offer the College. As OCdt Paquette told the Branch members, Cadets plan the expeditions as much as is possible, and they emerge from the experience better off for having been a part of it. That the Club has a bright future ahead of it was evident in the enthusiasm of the Cadets doing the presentation, as well as in the multitude of questions that their presentation brought from the members of the Kingston Branch.
Photos from the luncheon (click to enlarge):
Une première semaine occupée pour le Club d’expédition du CMRC
Écrivez par 26268 Élof (II) Stéphanie Paquette, Président du Club d’expédition du CMRC
Cette semaine fut très occupée pour le Club d’expédition du CMRC. Au retour des vacances, les membres du club ont été heureux d’apprendre qu’ils ont obtenu une subvention de 20 000 $ de la Fondation du CMR. Ce montant servira à aider financièrement les élèves officiers qui participeront aux expéditions en Inde et dans l’Arctique ce semestre. D’ailleurs, cette semaine était la dernière pour s’inscrire au processus de sélection pour les expéditions qui aura lieu la semaine prochaine. Le comité exécutif a donc travaillé très fort cette semaine afin de finaliser les derniers détails du processus sélection.
Toutefois, là ne se limitent pas les activités du Club cette semaine. En effet, des membres de l’exécutif du Club d’expédition du CMRC ont donné une présentation à la branche de Kingston du Club du CMR sur leurs projets à venir et les expéditions passées.
Avec toutes ces activités, le Club d’expédition n’a que plus hâte de sélectionner les membres des expéditions Inde 2013 et Arctique 2013 pour permettre aux Élofs sélectionnés de commencer leur préparation intensive qui leur permettra de développer leur leadership et leurs compétences pour représenter le Collège jusqu’aux bouts de la Terre.