Two Grade 6 students from Assiniboia Park School, Ivy Ling and Rhyder Renner, have their Heritage Fair video projects up for voting in the Young Citizens program, vying with entries from across Canada for the chance to win a trip to Ottawa this fall.
The students initially took part in their school’s Heritage Fair, and had their entries advance to the Regional Heritage Fair in Regina, where they were selected to take part in the Young Citizens program where a video of their project has been posted and are open for votes to the public.
Ivy’s project is on midwives in Canada, while Rhyder’s project is on ISTAR, a research facility for those who deal with stuttering.
In an interview about her project, Ivy explained that her video talks some about the history of midwives and how the service is offered today, and includes an interview she did with a midwife from Alberta.
“My video shows about then and now, and I talk about the technology involved from then and now,” she said, adding she had to dig deep to find her information on midwifery, as there weren’t a lot of resource materials available on the subject.
Noting a lot of adults who’ve seen her Heritage Fair display were surprised at her topic choice, she said she got the idea to do this topic after watching a British TV show about midwives. She was able to find a midwife in Alberta who she interviewed, and was able to get a fair amount of up-to-date information about midwifery from her.
Ivy noted that once the students were chosen to take part in the Young Citizens program, they were given a workshop on how to film and edit a video, which she found very interesting as she put her video presentation together for the website.
“It was really fun. It was really interesting to look at how to do all that,” said Ivy, noting she might be interested in making documentaries as she gets older, after getting a taste for making videos through this contest. “It was fun for me, because I really enjoyed it.”
Ivy enjoyed not only the process of making a video, using a computer program for the editing, but being able to put her personal touch on it as she presented information on midwifery was very satisfying and interesting for her.
Her video went live on June 12, and she’s received many comments about it with votes from people who liked her work. The video will be up for voting until Friday, July 7, and at the end of the summer, two winners will be chosen from Saskatchewan, one based on the number of votes, and one chosen by a panel of judges.
A total of 26 students will be chosen from across Canada to go to Ottawa where they will be able to premiere their film at Canada’s History Forum.
In comments Rhyder provided with his video presentation, he said of his topic, “ISTAR is a treatment and research facility that I attended in the summer of 2016. I struggle with a stutter and the camp helped me learn some coping mechanisms to deal with it.”
Asked what the most interesting thing was he learned about his topic, he replied, “I’ve learned that being different is okay. Everyone is fighting their own battles and to never judge anyone for their differences.
“I also learned that I will always have a stutter but ISTAR helped me work through the physical difficulties of having a speech impairment,” said Rhyder.
He shared what he was able to learn about stuttering, noting, “I learned that stuttering can be somewhat controlled by your breathing, however, it’s unknown to doctors what causes stuttering. There is nothing my parents could have done differently to prevent me from having this stutter.”
To view the videos and to vote on them, go to www.canadashistory.ca and click on the box, “Watch videos by young citizens!”, or go to YoungCitizens.ca. This will take you to the page, Canada’s History for Kids, and you can search specifically for video entries by province and by the child’s first name, and you can vote there. Only one vote per eligible email address is accepted per entry.
