This could be the smartest university student in British Columbia

KAMLOOPS – Who wants to spend all summer doing research, especially when there’s so many great music festivals going on across the province.

If you were smart, you could do both at the same time. Getting a research grant to pay for tickets to those music festivals? Pure genius.

Gabe Carpendale was awarded a $4,500 Undergraduate Research Experience Award Program scholarship from Thompson Rivers University to attend several festivals.

His research called "Human Development in Alternative Leisure Contexts" started with a stint at Snowbombing at Sun Peaks Resort and last weekend he attended Bass Coast in Merritt. Carpendale doubles as a B.C. Wildfire firefighter and as long as he can schedule the time off from firefighting duties, he plans to hit Shambhala in Salmo this August.

It might sound like all fun, but Carpendale has some serious insights he hopes to explore.

His study is based on interviews with fellow attendees, observations from engineering like stage design and lighting, according to a release from TRU.

The elaborate costumes, bright makeup and other distinct ways people dress at festivals is something he will be paying close attention to.

“I’ll be looking at belonging practices — the things people do, like dressing up in costume — that bring them closer together, and how that’s similar to the adventure context, where almost all activities are done with other people,” he says in the release.

He's a fan of adventure sports and even got a diploma in adventure guiding.

Party goers can enter a state of extreme focus and increased happiness like the thrill, or state of flow, people get from adventure sports, the release states. Carpendale wants to examine that idea.

Carpendale argues people who get a thrill from sports like skiing, mountain biking and rock climbing also flock to music festivals.

“There are aspects of music festivals that trigger this same state of flow, but instead of using risk as a trigger, they’re using other things, like connections with people, and the visuals, lights, and the set-up of the stage,” he says.

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