Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Silvia Senna

RAIL RIOT

TRU students host Rail Riot event as part of Tourism Management class

Nov 20, 2023 | 12:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — A tourism management class at Thompson Rivers University transformed an old handrail on campus into an exciting ski and board obstacle. While young athletes hit the rail, dozens of people showed their support — proving classes can be fun.

“We are going to see skiers and snowboarders make it down this handrail on their skis. We have a jump at the top of the stairs and they’re going to jump onto the handrail and they’re going to try to balance and make to the bottom, and hopefully right away,” explained Justin Tarasoff, the student who came up with the idea in the first place.

This project specifically has been a long time coming for Tarasoff.

“In 2020, I was on my campus tour for the university with my friends and I was like, ‘Wow, what a nice handrail. This would be awesome to ski or snowboard on,'” he told CFJC Today. “I came back that following winter and I maybe hit it once or twice — managed to make it — and then security kicked me out right away. That was unfortunate, so I went to my professor, Billy Collins, and I was like, ‘How can we hit this thing without getting kicked out?'”

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The solution? Make this a course assignment.

“My main objective is to have the students actually do something and get their hands dirty […] doing something so that they can put the theory together with the actual delivering of the event,” explained Collins. “That’s what I’m teaching the kids about — risk management, volunteer management, financial management, legal liability, all kinds of stuff. It’s a way to take the theory and then apply it in a real life event with all of the madness and the chaos and the challenges.”

And Tarasoff couldn’t agree more.

“I feel I have a much better grasp on events just because after running one, I totally know what’s necessary, instead of just memorizing the slides, what I do for my other classes. I feel like the learning outcomes for this are pretty, pretty high,” he said.

The event was a success and now the students hope they will get a good mark for it.