Hatter Jerusalem Cooper accepts her second place award from the SPIRIT of Victory Contest. The air cadet gave a speech virtually on Victory in Europe Day to get second place.--SUBMITTED PHOTOS
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
A young Hatter combined a love of cadets and history to bring home a second-place award from the annual SPIRIT of Victory public speaking event.
Jerusalem Cooper joined air cadets earlier this year and says the second-place honour was a great surprise.
“Because of the coronavirus I wasn’t able to perform my speech anywhere,” she said. “I took a video of me saying my speech and then sent it in.
“I really didn’t know what to expect when I sent it in, but it was great to know it was good. It was stunning.”
The 12-year-old Medicine Hat Christian School student wrote her speech on Victory in Europe Day.
“It was about how Canada worked together with all of these countries to win World War Two,” she said. “It’s really inspiring to see how countries can work together and to see great things come out of that.”
Cooper says the research for the speech took a couple days, and writing it took about two more.
“After writing it I had to memorize it,” she said. “I’d say it took four or five days total.
“It was a lot of fun.”
Cooper says a love of history, specifically the Second World War, made this a fun project.
“I’ve been reading a lot about World War Two lately. That made this really interesting for me,” she said. “There was not any website that told me about this stuff, so I had find books to do a lot of this.
“Writing this and putting it together made everything click.”
Read Cooper’s speech below:
75 Years Later
Why V-E Day teaches Albertans we can be victorious despite our circumstances
My name’s Cadet Cooper. It’s the first time in my life when I’m regularly called by my last name. But every time I hear it, I’m reminded of what my dad always says, “Cooper’s don’t quit.” Once you commit, you never quit.
Albertans are getting beaten down, right now. There’s all kinds of BIG things going on around us like the deaths from the coronavirus, huge job losses, the hurting oil and gas industry and failing economy. It all just starts piling up higher and higher, and people are starting to fall beneath all the pressure. If there was ever a time when Albertans needed a reminder of what victory means and what it is to live a spirited life, one with sportsmanship, perseverance, integrity, resilience, inspiration and teamwork, NOW is that time.
Now, more than ever, we need to persevere through the hard times. Perseverance is being determined and able to overcome obstacles when it is hard.
On May 8, we celebrate V-E Day, and even though it happened 75 years ago, 63 years before I was even born, it’s still important to celebrate and honour those who made the sacrifice for our freedom. War isn’t easy, and freedom isn’t free. Our veterans taught us that. We celebrate Victory in Europe Day because, in hard times, we remember that if our veterans can fight and overcome, so can we. We need a reminder of victory in times passed so we can have victory in our own times. We either remember History, or we’re bound to repeat it. I choose to remember.
If one generation can win victory, we can too.
Not only does V-E Day teach us about perseverance, it teaches us teamwork. And as Canadians, we don’t have to look very far for great examples of teamwork.
Canada understands working together for good. The British Commonwealth Air Training Program was one of Canada’s significant contributions to the Second World War. Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain also contributed, but of the nearly 131,000 aircrew members that were trained by the end of World War Two, almost 73,000 of those were trained in Canada. That means that Canada produced more than 50% of the crew members! That’s teamwork. That’s the SPIRIT of Canada who goes the extra mile, who does more than what is expected or asked of Her. All of Canada – including Alberta – put our back into the war effort in order to do our part for victory.
Alberta had about thirty-five school training facilities as part of the Air Training Program, including Bombing and Gunnery schools, Aircrew training facilities, Relief Landing Fields, and more. Even in Southeastern Alberta, my little hometown, Medicine Hat, built a Service Flying Training School during the Second World War. And, Lethbridge, too, built a bombing and gunnery school. Now it’s the fourth largest city in Alberta. Teamwork has the power to last for generations.
I have wanted to be a pilot since I was much littler than I am now, and I’m pretty little. Stories like these of our small communities doing big things decades ago inspires me even today.
Both civilians and veterans persevered through the pain, worked together to stick it out and braved the horrors of war, then in the end, they inspired so many. They set a great example for us Albertans.
We need to stand together and persevere through our own challenges today. We remember that taste of victory, that small feeling of achievement. We can overcome these obstacles through this tough year if we, not only keep that SPIRIT in mind, but act with SPIRIT.
Hold tight to our resilience in the face of adversity, and if anyone feels discouraged, remember, we are all working together as a team to get through this. Little things can go a long way, so by doing little things that help our community, we can inspire others. As Albertans, we can go the extra mile, do more than expected. Treat each other with respect and build each other up. People of integrity spark happiness in the hearts of those who are close to falling apart. These little victories show people who we are. And that’s worth remembering!
