Like many teenagers, Richard Budd is a little shy. But he lights up when asked his favourite thing about school.

"I like setting the rabbit snares. We skin them and we eat them."

Budd, 13, is a student at Oscar Lathlin Collegiate on the Opaskweyak Cree Nation in northwestern Manitoba, where students can hunt, fish, trap and learn about the land all while receiving high school credit.

Theres a trapping education course in Grade 11 and a forest ecology program in Grade 12. Students essentially learn to live off the land, while community members and elders share Cree culture and language.

It complements the schools existing language requirement: students must complete one Cree language course to graduate.

Budd is in the schools newest program, aimed at grade 7 and 8 students who have fallen behind in their studies. Now in its second year, students like Budd take classes that are a mix of academics and hands-on outdoor activities.

The more that its outdoors and the more that its activity-based and hands-on, I think the more that theyre motivated to participate, said teacher Dan Ehman.

On a typical day, the students will spend the morning in a classroom while afternoons are spent doing activities like canoeing, learning to make fires safely or, like today, orienteering.

Budd and his classmates are walking through a large field, using compasses to find clues left by Ehman.

I can use this to help people, like my family, when they go out hunting, Budd said.

With just over 500 students, Oscar Lathlin Collegiate is a large school surrounded by trees and fields. Built in 2011, the building uses geothermal heating and cooling and natural sunlight to illuminate the many rooms. Classrooms are equipped with smartboards state-of-the-art interactive digital whiteboards. Theres even a skatepark.

Its a modern facility filled with the communitys Cree culture and language.

Signs are in Cree, while portraits of the communitys chiefs and leaders watch over students in the large, airy hallways. Theres also a framed reproduction of the documents that make up Treaty 5, of which this community is signatory.

But its the land, water and people just outside the school grounds that some staff see as the greatest educational tool.

"Kids are into iPhones and videos games, so it would be great for them to be involved, since there is such a huge resource in the country around them," said Ehman.

To help make that resource more accessible, the school built two cabins on nearby lakes that can be used as land-based classrooms or a base for the staffs professional development days.

"It gives the kids a sense of connection," said land-based education teacher Randy Koshel.

"Theyre getting a chance to see what outdoor living is and the cultural and spiritual values that are shared, especially when elders come in and talk about it."

Theres excitement when they go out. Theyre focused.

Today, Koshels Grade 12 students are carving and sanding walking sticks made from trees harvested in the surrounding area. Things will ramp up as the temperature drops, with more intensive trapping and hunting trips.

"I like hunting and fishing, so I figured this course would be the course to take," said Andre St. Gelais, 16, while sanding a walking stick made from diamond willow.

Like many students who have taken the land-based courses, Koshel said hes seen St. Gelais confidence grow.

"Theres excitement when they go out. Theyre focused. They start identifying with who they are and what they can do, he said.

While its a creative way to get kids physically active and engaged in education, principal Ron Constant said the land-based program also ensures the next generation becomes the Cree communitys future knowledge keepers.

"Were getting older and we want to keep passing it down," he said.

The school gets nearly 30 per cent less federal funding for each student than the school just across the river in the town of The Pas gets from the province, but Constant said his students arent suffering.

In fact, he said his students are testing at the same level as their provincial counterparts.

"The stigma that youre going to school in the reserve school and getting a subpar education is no longer a hindrance," Constant said proudly.

"Theyd get the same level of education if they were to go to Winnipeg."