Bottle drive for GREC grad trip to Montreal

Jan 14, 2015

For years now, Ms Schall's grade eight graduates have been making a trip to Montreal to celebrate their graduation while taking in all the special sights and educational experiences that that wonderful city has to offer. This year will be no different and in mid-June, 29 graduating grade eight students from the Granite Ridge Education Centre (GREC) in Sharbot Lake will be boarding a VIA train to Montreal where they will be spending two nights and three days.

To raise funds for their travel expenses, a bottle drive fundraiser was held on Jan. 9 & 10.

The trip is a combination of education and fun and for many of the students it will not only be their first visit to a major Canadian city but also to French Canada. While in Montreal the students will be getting around on public transportation, and will be navigating the local subways and buses while also practicing their French and enjoying the many sites in the city. They will be touring Old Montreal, taking an exciting jet boat tour of the Lachine Rapids to the location of the city's first and oldest settlements, and will also visit the Biodome and the Olympic City. A trip to La Ronde, the city's famed amusement park, is also on the itinerary.

While Schall has made the trip many times over the last seven years, one event continues to be her favorite. “Personally for me the highlight of the trip is always the night hike that we take up Mount Royal where we walk up to the top of the mountain and look out over the huge expanse of the city, which is lit up by city and traffic lights and with the blackness of the St. Lawrence River in the background.”

To date the students have raised $4,000 towards the trip and are hoping to raise a total of $11,400, which will cover the transportation, accommodation and food costs for all the students.

Ms. Schall said that the trip is an important one for graduating students, many of whom form very strong bonds with their fellow classmates nearing the end of the school year, prior to moving on to high school. “This can be a very intense and emotional time for these graduating students, and the trip gives them a chance to bond further and also presents some new challenges to them; challenges like navigating their way through the city, looking at city maps and having to problem solve in a number of relevant ways in an environment that is new and challenging and unknown.“

Schall added that the trip also is a kind of initiation for the students into the bigger, broader world they will entering upon graduation in June. “These students will be entering a new school atmosphere where they will have more freedom and will be required to show more responsibility as a result of that freedom. This trip represents an initiation into that bigger world; it offers them a chance to be more independent while literally seeking out their own personal paths, which is something they will have to be doing more and more of as they move on through life.”

Those who missed the bottle drive fundraiser will have other opportunities to donate to the trip, including at a volleyball tournament that will take place at the school on Sat. January 17. For more information about how to become involved in the tournament contact Tina Howes at 613-375-8152.

A broomball tournament is also being planned for February at the Tichborne rink. Keep an eye out in the Northern Happenings for the date and time.