Life on a tall ship expedition is demanding. After a few hours of sleep in a bunk below deck, you are back on watch, helping raise sails, navigating changing winds, and working, teaching, and learning alongside a crew of young adults and educators. There are overnight watches, no daily showers, limited access to technology, and every task depends on teamwork.
And for Gabrielle Pulver (ConEd’21, MES ’23), this is where learning comes alive.
Gabrielle had always been drawn to learning beyond the classroom. Throughout her undergraduate years, she volunteered with Camp Outlook, joined the Queen’s Outdoors Club, and worked at an outdoor education centre. When it came time to complete her Bachelor of Education, the Outdoor and Experiential Education (OEE) program offered an opportunity to connect those interests with her future as an educator.
“The reason I ended up wanting to go to Queen’s was primarily because of OEE,” Gabrielle says. “It was the biggest draw for me.”
As part of the OEE program, students complete a specialized placement outside of a traditional classroom. Looking for an opportunity that combined education, leadership, and environmental learning, Gabrielle reached out to Tall Ships Expeditions Canada, the organization behind educational adventures on the St. Lawrence II, an historic brigantine tall ship.
During her OEE placement in 2022, Gabrielle developed experiential education programming for students in Grades 7 and 8, bringing nautical themes into the Ontario curriculum through hands-on activities, navigation challenges, knot tying, science investigations, and teamwork exercises.
“The placement became the highlight of my OEE experience,” Gabrielle says. “It also became the highlight of my BEd year.”
Although her career later took her to graduate studies in environmental activism and to an international school in Thailand, she continued to be pulled back to experiential and outdoor learning. Then, in summer 2026, Gabrielle returned to the Tall Ships as an educational consultant to develop a reflective learning handbook for youth participating in sailing expeditions aboard the St. Lawrence II. The handbook encourages participants to reflect on leadership, resilience, confidence, teamwork, and personal growth alongside the technical skills of sailing a tall ship.
Gabrielle recently returned from piloting the handbook on the St Lawrence II. Watching participants overcome fears, adapt to unfamiliar situations, and work together during the pilot confirmed her belief in the life-changing potential of outdoor and experiential education.
“Outdoor education creates opportunities for people to discover strengths they didn’t know they had,” she says. “You see confidence grow, people support one another, and learning happens naturally through shared experience.”
Although her career has taken a winding path, Gabrielle believes OEE prepared her for exactly that kind of journey.
“The career paths aren’t always traditional,” she explains. “You build networks, you follow opportunities, and you create experiences that lead to the next one.”
For Gabrielle, that opportunity began aboard a tall ship and continues to shape a career in education, environmental learning, and research.
This fall, Gabrielle’s journey takes its next turn as she begins a PhD in Social Justice Education, where she plans to explore how storytelling and folklore can strengthen relationships with water and environmental stewardship.
As Queen’s Faculty of Education relaunches the OEE program following a one-year hiatus, Gabrielle’s story demonstrates what makes the program distinctive. Learn more about OEE.