Huron Expositor, 2009-04-22, Page 181
Pogo 18 The Huron Expositor • April 22, 2009
News
Student receives $5,000 travel fellowship plan award
When school lets out this summer,
Central Huron Secondary School
student Aaron Gross plans to have
a vacation that is anything but ordi-
nary.
The Grade 12 student is the re-
cipient of the first-ever $5,000 trav-
el fellowship plan award, which is
sponsored by the McCall McBain
foundation.
Marcy McCall McBain, a former
Seaforth District High School stu-
dent, visited the school last year and
offered to provide funding for a pro-
gram that would allow students the
chance to broaden their horizons and
education through travel.
"She wanted to do something for
the students in this area," explained
Linda Doig, head of student servic-
es at CHSS. "One of the things she
wanted to do for students was to give
them the opportunity for education
through travelling."
The 11 students who were nomi-
nated by their peers to apply for
the fellowship had to come up with
a plan detailing where they would
o and what they would do with the
5,000.
In addition, the students were re-
quired to show how they had demon-
strated the qualities of courage and
strength as an individual, compas-
sion, generosity, high academic and
personal standards and commitment
to understanding people.
Doig said she was pleasantly sur-
prised and impressed by the number
of students whose plans included
some kind of volunteer work.
"You didn't have to volunteer, that
wasn't a requirement but most of the
students wanted to," she said.
Once the 11 students had been
nominated, a committee of teachers
whittled the number down to five fi-
nalists who were required to present
their plan to the entire student body,
who in turn voted for the winner.
Gross says that despite the pros-
pect of winning the money and get-
ting a jump on pursuing one of his
major life goals was tantalizing, the
idea of having to make a presenta-
tion in front of the whole school gave
him pause.
"I'm pretty shy," he said. "But I
figured it was worth it. It wasn't ac-
tually that bad, I was more nervous
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11= Main St, . Seaforth 527-0240
s.
beforehand."
In exchange for facing his fear,
this summer Gross will be spending
eight weeks in Nicaragua, volunteer-
ing at hospitals and brushing up on
his Spanish with a group called Vol-
unteer Abroad.
"When I go there I'll be at the orien-
tation centre for the first four weeks
where well volunteer as a group to-
gether around the city, learn a whole
lot of Spanish and the culture and the
basics that you'll need to know when
you're living on your own because for
the last four weeks, I'll be working in
a hospital on my own staying with a
family," he explained.
"There's only 'one person there who
speaks English."
The dream of heading to Nicara-
gua is a fairly recent one for Gross,
who says he just stumbled across the
location while doing research for the
e
fellowship.
"I want to be a doctor and I want
to work in developing countries. So
I just sort of looked through Google
and it looked perfect," he explained.
The availability of hospital volun-
teer facilities and the opportunity to
learn Spanish were what sold him on
Nicaragua.
"I wasn't really particular on a
destination but Nicaragua had the
hospital facilities for volunteers,"
he said. "Plus you get to learn Span-
ish."
Although Gross has done a fair
amount of travelling around North
America with his family, this trip,
which will surely hold a litany of
firsts for the student, will also be his
first time on an airplane.
As well as getting a firsthand look
at what he hopes will be his future
career; Gross said he is looking for-
ward to exploring and meeting new
people during his downtime.
"On weekends we're allowed to
travel. I'm sure I'll meet some cool
people who are also volunteerri�ng," he
said. "It will be cool too surfing."
g g
Although he will be graduating
this year, Gross will be expected
to return to the school next year to
present photos and stories of his trip
tostaff and students.
by Sarah McDonald,
Clinton News -Record
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