Roy Wilson students win trip to Ontario

By Peggy Revell on April 12, 2018.

prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell

Thirty-five students from the Hat are Ontario-bound after winning an all-expenses paid trip for their work to raise awareness of fire safety.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Amaly Bartman, one of the Grade 8 students from the Dr. Roy Wilson Learning Centre announced Wednesday morning as winners of Parks Canada’s annual “Canada’s Coolest School Trip” contest.

“It’s still sinking in that we actually won.”

As part of the contest, classes from across the country create a photo essay on their involvement in an environmental, historical or cultural conservation activity — and how it connects to Parks Canada.

“Fire prevention really stood out to us,” said Bartman of the RWLC’s topic choice.

This was because of the fires last summer in Waterton National Park, said fellow student Chloe Thomas.

For the project, students visited Elkwater where they participated in snowshoeing and also inspected various cabins to give them a fire prevention score, said Thomas.

A second part to the project was the school hosting a pow-wow, with First Nation people from the region invited, a round dance and traditional bannock making.

Part of Parks Canada mandate is about aboriginal roots in Canada, said student Kennedy Fleming, so elders spoke about traditional fire-prevention methods used, such as controlled burns in the winter.

Students also had a booth at Winterfest at Elkwater, where they displayed models of a “firesmart” cabin they built, and a regular cabin.

“So people could get a strong idea of what we were trying to portray,” said Bartman.

Students handed out firesmart scoresheets that people could use as a checklist for their own home.

Each student had different favourite parts of the project — from the powwow, to visiting Elkwater, to putting together the photo essay.

While it was a competition, Bartman said they were more focused on spreading their message on fire safety.

That’s not to say they weren’t eagerly awaiting the results: Every day they would be checking the Parks Canada website to see if a winner had been announced.

Yet they said they couldn’t believe the news, even when they were announced as the winner by in a video presentation by Sophie Grégoire Trudeau at an assembly Wednesday morning.

All are excited for the trip to Ontario, which includes a tour of Thousand Islands National Park, Rideau Canal National Historic Site, Fort Wellington National Historic Site, Laurier House National Historic Site and visit to Ottawa.

“We were really glad for this overall experience, because not everyone has this opportunity,” said Fleming.

The contest is run by Parks Canada, Canadian Geographic Education, the Canadian Wildlife Federation, and Historica Canada, with sponsorship by Air Canada.

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