The Pulse: Oct. 25, 2023

A teacher and homeschooling mom has launched AllFieldTrips, an online resource that provides a place to both search for and review field trip options for their educational value.

Elise Barber created the site to address a gap she noticed in educator resources during her years teaching in the public school system, as a facilitator for homeschooled students, and as a homeschooling teacher for her two sons.

"We need a way for educators to be able to communicate more specifically about these sorts of things and be able to give feedback to these businesses in a constructive way, where we're working together to create better field trips," Barber told Taproot.

The idea began forming a decade ago when Barber organized a science-focused field trip that failed to fulfill the learning outcomes advertised. She found herself with no way to share the experience with other educators.

"It was a fun field trip, but it had nothing to do with trees and forests. It was entirely about the other things that were offered at this particular place … and I thought, how silly that nothing exists that I can review," Barber said.

The website is free to all parents and educators. Field trip providers will be listed on the site with basic information for free, but they can subscribe to upgrade their listings. The fee is $75 per year now and will go up to $100 per year on Jan. 1.

"They're able to claim their page and add their own photos, respond to reviews, add their own descriptions, update things, add individual field trips that they offer, and they can add a lot more to really flesh out their page," Barber said.

Teacher responses have been positive, she said, adding that the site has four subscribed businesses so far, with more considering it.

• The Valley Line Southeast LRT will begin passenger service on Nov. 4 beginning at 5:15am, the city and TransEd announced. The $1.8-billion project, which was supposed to open in December 2020, is a 13-kilometre low-floor line connecting Mill Woods to downtown. The project has faced repeated setbacks during construction, including cracked concrete piers, signalling cables that needed to be replaced, and an unexpected concrete mass discovered in the river. "This has been a long journey, with challenges and detours, but we're confident in the system we've built," TransEd CEO Ronald Joncas said. Final operational exercises will happen over the next few weeks, and a formal grand opening ceremony is set for 2024.
• Public school teachers have voted 97% in favour of having the Alberta Teachers' Association ask for a government supervised strike vote after rejecting a mediator's proposal. Teachers are seeking improved conditions for online learning, as well as for those teaching summer school and night school. Edmonton Public Teachers Local 37 said the union is still hopeful for a negotiated settlement despite the strike vote. A spokesperson for Edmonton Public Schools said the district is committed to working with the teachers' bargaining committee to come to a settlement.
• Unionized video game developers employed by Keywords Studios have voted unanimously in favour of strike action. The workers, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401, became Canada's first unionized video game industry workers in 2022. They were laid off last month during negotiations for their first collective agreement. The union says the strike aims to hold the company accountable for abandoning the bargaining process and address poor working conditions in the industry, including long work hours and low wages.
• The first hydrogen-powered transit buses will be operating in Edmonton and Strathcona County beginning Oct. 25. The buses have fuel cells that use hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity that powers the vehicles. They will be wrapped in a special blue and green vinyl design inspired by hydrogen and water molecules to help them be easily recognizable to transit riders. The hydrogen bus pilot is funded through the Alberta Zero Emission Hydrogen Transit initiative.
• The Edmonton Police Service has partnered with Wounded Warriors Canada to provide free mental health support to its active and retired service members. "Every day police officers are confronted with traumatic situations that can be difficult to process due to the nature of their work, so mental health is always top of mind," said Staff Sgt. Rocky Druar. The support includes camps and programs for family members.
• Global News has launched a three-part series examining gang and gun violence in Edmonton. The Edmonton Police Service says 2023 is on track to have the highest number of shootings ever in the city. Edmonton has had a 47% increase in shootings compared to last year, with 25% of homicides confirmed to be gang-related. The police gang suppression team was created in 2019 and is dedicated to tackling gun violence and monitoring gun violence through a variety of tactics, such as working with businesses to keep people involved in gangs out of public places.
• The NHL has lifted its ban on players supporting social causes on their equipment, including the use of Edmonton-based Pride Tape in support of the LGBTQ community. The decision came after Arizona Coyotes defenceman Travis Dermott defied the ban and used Pride Tape on his stick during a recent game. NHL players will now be able to represent social causes with their stick tape throughout the season. The move to lift the ban was applauded by advocacy organization You Can Play.
• The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation has launched the Every Kid Deserves A Shot initiative, which aims to support and inspire kids through hockey. The effort will be supported through Oilers 50/50 raffles and other fundraising efforts. Its goal is to make hockey more accessible, affordable, and inclusive for all kids in Edmonton with on and off ice programming. The current 50/50 raffle, running until Oct. 29, will support the initiative.

On this day in 1954, Edmonton's professional football team had notched another win on its way to its first Grey Cup victory.

The predecessors of the team dated all the way back to 1892, when a challenge from Calgary got Edmonton's back up and a team was formed. By 1895, a mix of players from Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan won the first Alberta Rugby Football Championship.

In 1908, the team became known as the Esquimaux, which was revised to Eskimos in 1910. They made it to the Grey Cup in 1921 and 1922 but lost both times and faded in and out of existence until the club was resurrected for good in 1949.

The 1954 season got off to a rough start with two consecutive losses, but the team never lost two in a row again, winding up with an 11-5 record and first place in the West.

"Jackie Parker, the dynamic Eskimo halfback, wasn't the whole show Saturday at Clarke Stadium, but he was close," reads the caption from a photo montage from a 24-19 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Parker excelled on both sides of the ball, and he played on a team of other future Hall-of-Famers, including Rollie Miles, Normie Kwong, and Johnny Bright.

Edmonton went on the face the Montreal Alouettes in the 1954 Grey Cup. The Esks were considered the underdogs, but as the clock ticked down in the fourth quarter at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Parker recovered a fumble and ran the ball all the way down the field for a touchdown. Edmonton won 26-25.

It was the start of Edmonton's first football dynasty, as the team would win again in 1955 and 1956. That streak would be exceeded in 1978, the start of a five-year run as Grey Cup champions. They won the CFL's top prize a few more times in the ensuing decades, but their last Grey Cup was in 2015, their last winning season was in 2017, and this season has ended with a 4-14 record.

The team was renamed the Elks in 2021 due to the untenable nature of the previous name; the new moniker is a throwback to one they sported in 1922.

This is based on a clipping found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse — follow @VintageEdmonton for daily ephemera.