A trip to Ottawa a year in the making taught students at Star City School the importance of civic engagement – both at home and in the nation’s capital – and Remembrance Day.
Twelve students and two teachers traveled to the capital to attend the Remembrance Day ceremony, toured the War Museum, Parliament, the CTV and CBC studios and sat in on the taping of Power and Politics.
“It was always something that I had on the back of my mind, one of my list of things to do with the kids here at Star City School,” said Dwane Burke, one of the teachers. “It was this year that we made it happen.”
Making it happen
To raise money for the experience, the students decided to provide services to local organizations that decided to donate. They did tasks like help the Star City Elks with their monthly brunches, support the Legion’s poppy drive and help the Royal Purple make perogies.
Burke said it was rewarding to see how the volunteer efforts helped some of the locals reconnect with the school.
“Before, they had lost those connections because a lot of people don’t have their kids in school anymore, so they were rebuilding their connection with the school again.”
Ethan Perkins, one of the students, said it was good to see how local organizations contributed to the trip.
“It was really amazing to see how willing people were to contribute to a learning experience like this and how they saw the importance of it too.”
Remembering the wars
Attending the Remembrance Day ceremony was the main reason the students came to Ottawa.
“You go to ceremonies in your hometown and it means something to you – I think it means something to everyone – but it’s a lot more different when this is like the Remembrance Day ceremony,” Perkins said.
“Just the atmosphere is different,” Jessica Smith said.
Sam Dancey said the ceremony was very different than watching in on the television, as you can walk around, get a perspective and get a sense of the sheer scale of the large crowd.
“It was something you might not experience again,” Emma Baptist said.
“Everyone has an obligation, especially as Canadians I think, to go to a Remembrance Day ceremony,” Anna Labossiere said. “It was really neat. I felt privileged to go to one in our capital. It was really cool.”
The students also visited the war museum, where they saw displays ranging from Adolf Hitler’s parade car to one about a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who lost both of his legs and drew a picture and wrote a letter to his girlfriend about the scene.
Daniel McMunn said he was impressed with the museum.
“There’s so much little things you would never think about that was just like, wow, that was something really influential that happened.”
The students also went to the Beechwood War Cemetery.
“On the last day, we brought the [Star City] honour roll to the Beechwood Cemetery and we got to read it,” Labossiere said. “That was neat, to bring Star City over to Ottawa. It made it a lot more personal, I think.”
“Coming from a small community, it really gives you a sense of scale, especially going to the cemetery,” Dancey said. “It’s massive.”
Seeing the politics
The students also had the chance to tour Parliament. They not only toured the Centre Block, but also got to see the East Block, which is closed to the public outside the summer months. They got to see John A. Macdonald’s office, the Library of Parliament, all while people were working away.
They also got to see CBC’s Power and Politics being produced, a scene that Perkins described where things were happening a million miles per hour, but Dancey said was under control.
For Cassidy McMunn, seeing the political system in action, talking to senators, showed her how it worked.
“It’s a lot more complex sometimes than we think it is but also it’s pretty simple.”
For Dancey, the visit demonstrated the human element in politics.
“You just hear about ‘the senate’ and ‘the government’ and then you go there and they’re people. They have families, they like going on vacation, they want to go home for the weekend. It’s not just some mysterious force.”
Also some free time
The students also got the chance to do some exploring themselves in the evening, visiting places like Downtown Ottawa, the Byward Market, Carleton University and a football game – when the Roughriders were playing, of course.
“I’d encourage anyone to go to Ottawa,” Cassidy McMunn said.
