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“I took no precautions,” he says, eyes widening at his own naiveté. “Poisonous spiders and snakes...I was lucky!” And “lucky” in another sense: unwittingly, his Australian adventure opened the door to “SurvivorChan. ’The name was a take-off on the TV series, "Survivorman; he laughs. “I used my camcorder experience from high school drama and karate demos, and taped whatever I was doing. I didn’t realize the impact it would have.” One thing you quickly realize about Jackie Chan: he can’t — and doesn’t care to — sit still for long. His first year of Humber College’s Media Foundations Program followed his training with the Shaolin monks. While the first year was “a great experience... I really enjoyed college life,” Jackie concedes, it ended in a bout of wanderlust. Itching to again taste life beyond Ontario, Jackie committed to six weeks of tree planting in western Canada. Another opportune offer, this time from a college friend’s family, would echo his Australian experience, without the threat of deadly reptiles. The short-term invitation to their Calgary home would last the entire summer. In the process, Jackie was reminded of a lesson first learned in Asia. “I was hired at a kids’ camp,” he says. “I started in a different role, but related so well with the kids, they asked me to be a counsellor. Someone said I was a ‘pied piper!’ Working with youth will definitely be part of my future.” Jackie again broke out his camcorder, a decision for which SurvivorChan would one day thank him. His urge remained in remission — albeit temporarily — for much of his second year at Humber. But as the academic year was almost at its close, fate intervened with an opportunity to travel to Japan for martial arts training. The hitch: he’d need to write his exams early to accommodate the trip. Where most students would hear “no,” his professors supported Jackie's circumstance: His time in * Japan included backpacking as well as an ascent of that country’s Mount n return, his talent behind the camera presented Jackie yet another opportunity. A friend who owned a record company asked him to videotape one of the label’s acts, about to serve as the opening act for Shaggy, in the Cayman Islands. As always, the footage would also capture the photographer’s own experi- ence in tropical paradise. Jackie blended gritty with glamourous. He assisted with a winter program for the homeless in addition to providing self- defense instruction at Humber. His efforts earned notice in a very practical way for a student funding his own studies. “T applied for the Millennium Award of Excellence, never thinking I'd win,” he recounts. “But turned out I did, a real boost. I paid off my student loan, had enough to cover future tuition and books.” His climbing adventure in Japan had whetted Jackie's appe- tite to scale more and bigger mountains. Next stop, Alaskan glaciers. “It was cheaper than the Himalayas!” he laughs. From base camp at the foot of Alaska’s Mount McKinley, Jackie absorbed upgraded wilderness training from what he terms “dynamic teachers.” The preparation readied him for chal- lenging outdoor conditions to come. “On the climb, the weather often changed quickly and dra- Please turn to page 11 FOCUS - JANUARY 2010 17