This year’s Sea to Sky Regional Heritage Fair will be held at the Lynn Valley Main Library on Friday, May 10th. The Regional Fair brings together 50 student history projects showcasing research into a wide variety of local, provincial or national topics. The projects, created by students in Grades 4 through 10, were selected from individual school heritage fairs as exemplifying thorough research into a topic of historical significance. Our friends at the North Vancouver Museum & Archives tell us that this year’s projects will include profiles of prominent Canadians and events, including the flooding of the Fraser River in 1948 and Canadian participation in the rescue of passengers of the Titanic.

Everyone is welcome to tour the displays and enjoy the Fair’s music, dance and historical activities this Friday from 6 – 8:30 pm.

Students visiting the Dominican Republic collect garbage for resale with Haitian workers

I recently had the privilege of reviewing a selection of photographs documenting the Spring Break working holiday taken by a delegation of Carson Graham students and their chaperones to the Dominican Republic. While they were there, the students built a house and an extension to a medical clinic. Each student also worked a half-day in the local garbage dump, collecting recyclable plastic to sell to a Chinese company that will process it into fuel. A typical “shift” in the garbage dump might earn a Haitian about $2 (U.S.) a day. It is the only work in this area for Haitian refugees since the local sugar plantation closed in the 1990s.

This photograph stood out for me, as a dramatic illustration of the service these students performed during their Spring Break. According to Rob Olson, Carson Graham’s Global Initiatives and Leadership Teacher, there’s even more going on in this picture than first meets the eye. One student described the experience afterwards as everything she learned in her IB Geography class come to life. Students were able to use their French skills to communicate with the Haitian workers, who speak mainly Creole. Wearing sturdy footwear, thick protective gloves, long sleeves and pants (despite the intense heat), the students worked alongside local children (one as young as seven) to fill their bags. One man told them that picking garbage in the Dominican Republic was better than living in a country with no work at all. A 17-year-old youth said that he had started working in the dump when he was seven, and had never been to school.

Now back home in North Vancouver, the students have pledged to continue to fundraise for the community, and try to find ways for these children to attend school and break the cycle of poverty that has marked their young lives.

Seymour Heights Elementary students participate in PJ Day for a Cure

It’s been gratifying to hear that many of our schools have participated in this year’s PJ Day for a Cure event to raise awareness and funds to assist children undergoing treatment for cancer. Some schools have hosted pancake breakfasts as part of the day, others have focused on awareness campaigns. Together, staff and students have done an excellent job of balancing the fun in wearing pajamas to school for a day with an improving understanding of the challenges faced by children battling cancer.

At Seymour Heights Elementary, the school’s PAC-purchased set of iPads served as an example for how tablets can be both entertainment devices and learning tools. A few days before Seymour Heights’ PJ Day, students learned in a school-wide assembly that the diversion offered by a tablet is also a useful way to help children relax while undergoing cancer treatment.

When Seymour Heights’ staff and students hosted their PJ Day for a Cure later in the week, it was with a sense of walking in the slippers of others–who often need to wear their pyjamas all day long.