Apply for the Fall 2024-25 Semester

Thank you for your interest in the Cortes Island Academy! The theme for this fall semester is Climate. Learn about our 2024-25 program.

The application process is free. 

Please read the following carefully before applying:

  • Will you be in Grade 10, 11 or 12 in the fall of 2024?
  • Do you like physical and academic challenges?
  • Are you healthy and able to live in a rural/remote community?
  • If you need homestay, are you prepared to live away from home in a semi-independent environment?
  • Does living on a remote island intrigue you? (Remote means no hospital, limited mental health care, and no transportation off island after 5:30 p.m.)
  • Are you able to manage chronic physical or mental health conditions if you have any?
  • Do you celebrate the idea of sharing your work with others?
  • Are you ready to be on the radio and create a film?

Applicants are evaluated entirely on their fit for the course, irrespective of their finances.

If you answered yes to these questions, let’s begin!

I'm ready to apply!

What is Experiential Education?

The Cortes Island Academy Semester is designed for students who are looking to expand their educational experience beyond the classroom through nature and project-based experiential learning. Cortes Island is both campus and curriculum and is one of the most ecologically sound and diverse places in the world with old growth forests and endangered flora and fauna. Students will learn from thought leaders and local knowledge holders. 

This is not a wilderness therapy course.

Cortes Island is a remote community, where students must be able to live semi-independently in a rural/remote setting with a host family. This program is physically and academically challenging and students are living away from home, often for the first time, on an island with no hospital, little or no mental health care, and no transportation off island after 5:30 p.m. If you are a learner with chronic physical or mental health conditions, think carefully about this course which, due to its remote nature and necessity of semi-independent living, may not be a good fit.

Priority enrolment

Priority enrolment will go to Cortes Island students, those within School District 72 who do not have access to a high school in their community, and Klahoose students wherever they currently live, and then to others that are currently under-served by the educational system in rural/remote communities. The goal is to balance students with approximately ⅓ from Cortes, ⅓ from other remote communities, and ⅓ international/urban/other parts of Canada. We will be accepting students going into grades 10, 11 and 12, (priority to older students and giving opportunities to new students when spaces are limited).

Campbell River School District 72

All students registered in the Cortes Island Academy semester program will need to register with the Campbell River School District 72 as their primary school. Students may cross enroll in online/DL programs or with other District brick-n-mortar schools for the second semester.

Need-blind admissions and financial bursaries for BC students.

Need-blind means that we accept students BEFORE asking about a student’s financial need, thus ensuring that students are evaluated entirely on their fit for the course, irrespective of their finances. Thanks to the Cortes Island Community Foundation CIA Scholarship/Bursary fund and the generosity of many committed donors, we have a generous bursary fund to help meet financial need of rural/remote students. Funding is limited, prioritized for local, rural island, Klahoose and sister nation students, and available to cover the CIA activity and program fees, not the homestay costs.

Non-Traditional Learning

While this course provides individualized educational opportunities to a degree that works well with many non-traditional learners such as those with language-based learning differences like dyslexia, learners that need personal educational assistance or with behavioral challenges cannot be safely accommodated. As well, student work in the CIA matters: it will be shared with scientists, aired on radio, and inform the work of others. This is not a course where you can ball up your final report and throw it in the garbage can for no one to see: work is shared.

Fall Semester Fees

Program Fee
This is for Domestic Students, International/Outside of Province Applicants need to refer to the Homestay Program
Cortes Island Academy Program & Activities Fee – $3500
(Entire semester)

Homestay Fees for 2023/24

Homestay Registration Fee – $400
Part-time Homestay (students who go home on weekends, max 20 days a month) – $700 / mo
Full-time Homestay (students who stay most weekends and some holidays) – $1000 / mo

Homestay fees and International Fees for 2024/25 have yet to be determined.