The Citizen, 2018-08-30, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2018. PAGE 11.
Caldwell returns from Eat Fit Project placement
Westfield-area student Grace
Caldwell is now back from her
recent trip to Nunavut and she says it
accomplished exactly what she
hoped it would at this point in her
life.
Caldwell, who is part of the school
board’s Student Senate program,
was first approached through the
program to take the trip as part of the
Eat Fit Project. Caldwell, nine other
students and a handful of adults, all
made the two-week-long trip last
month.
The group travelled to Nunavut in
hopes of creating a two-week day
camp for the children there, teaching
them to prepare healthy meals and to
stay active throughout their days.
Caldwell is the daughter of Ian and
Sarah Caldwell of Nature Centre
Road in East Wawanosh.
One of Caldwell’s teachers
approached her with the opportunity
and she soon found out there was a
space available if she wanted to take
it.
While being part of both the
Student Senate and Eat Fit programs
have been invigorating and were
reason enough to go on the trip,
Caldwell said what she was really
hoping to accomplish with the trip
was to learn about the culture of the
territory and its people.
“So many people travel to
experience the culture of people
from another country and there are
so many unique cultures here in
Canada,” Caldwell said in an
interview with The Citizen.
She said that Nunavut isn’t a part
of Canada you hear much about, so
the culture there is still very much a
mystery to most Canadians. It was
for that reason that she wanted to
experience it.
Caldwell said that she and her
fellow travellers didn’t do much
preparation ahead of the trip. Aside
from one organizational meeting,
they largely just wanted to be
immersed in the area’s culture once
they made their way off the airplane.
The group travelled for two days
before members made their way into
Iqaluit, Nunavut’s capital city. They
took a train from Stratford to
Toronto and then from Toronto to
Ottawa, where they stayed
overnight. Then, the next day and
flew to Iqaluit and were shuttled to
Cape Dorset, which is where they
would host their camp for the next
two weeks.
She said that while many of the
residents where they were spoke
Inuktitut, just about everyone spoke
English, which is the language that
is taught in schools, so
communicating wasn’t a problem.
Once the students were at Cape
Dorset and had the camp set up, they
began teaching the locals about
preparing and cooking healthy
meals, whether it be lunch or dinner.
As far as fitness was concerned,
Caldwell said, they didn’t have
much to teach the locals. Because
they all have to walk everywhere,
she said that fitness was not a
concern there like it is in other
communities.
Nevertheless, Caldwell said, they
arranged physical activities for the
local youth every day, whether it be
games, sports or even one day a local
spin on an American Ninja Warrior-
style obstacle course.
She said that many of the students
paired up with local youth during
their time there. Caldwell
remembers climbing a mountain
with a three-year-old girl there
named Rose who immediately took
to her.
Caldwell said she loved her time
there, but said that the 24 hours of
daylight certainly took a little getting
used to. In the school they stayed in,
the windows were boarded up to
keep light out throughout the night.
This is the second trip Caldwell
has taken through her school. When
she was in Grade 9, she went to Saint
Martin as part of a school exchange.
While there, Caldwell and her fellow
students attended a local school for
two weeks and welcomed their
students to Huron County for two
weeks in the months that would
follow.
The trip, Caldwell said, is meant to
be a type of “leader camp” that
teaches students of promise what it
takes to be a leader in their
workplaces or communities in the
years to come.
Quite an experience
Grace Caldwell from the Westfield area, left, has recently
returned from a trip to Nunavut through her work with the
Student Senate of the Avon Maitland District School Board
as part of the Eat Fit Project. One of Caldwell’s best
memories of her trip was climbing a mountain with a local
girl named Rose. (Photo submitted)
Speer keeping busy as School Fair Ambassador
Brussels-area student James Speer
has been serving as the Ambassador
for the Elementary School Fair for
several weeks now and one of his
goals is to ensure a thriving field for
next year’s ambassador.
“This year’s competition was
good, but I was the only contestant
there,” he said. “My goal is to make
more people to participate. I want to
spread awareness of the
competition.”
While he was the only competitor,
Speer still addressed the judges,
taking part in a speech competition
in March.
The pre-determined topic was
“Welcoming the World to Huron
County” and, on the heels of the
International Plowing Match (IPM)
in Walton in 2017, Speer said there
was a lot of information from which
he could draw.
“I talked a lot about the IPM,” he
said. “I also talked about how Huron
County is a settlement and everyone
has roots somewhere.”
Speer’s speech talked about how
his mother, Margaret, is a first
generation Huron County resident,
but his father Dave had moved from
Brockville.
He also said that the roots of each
person in Huron County can be
celebrated, pointing to organizations
like the Brussels Legion Pipe Band
and the Goderich Celtic Festival.
“Everything from those events to
baking recipes is a throwback to
other cultures,” he said. “The world
is a part of Huron County.”
Speer said he also talked about
farming in Huron County because
that’s how the world knows the
community.
Thus far, his responsibilities have
included helping out at craft days for
the fair, visiting schools to promote
the competition, handing out fair
books and reminding students to
participate.
“There should be no excuse for
anyone to be bored over the
summer,” he said. “I challenged
everyone to beat me in the large
zucchini contest. I already have a
giant one, but I’m pretty sure there
will be a lot of them.”
Speer has also participated in
parades, attended the Huron County
Plowing Match and visited the
opening of local farmers’ markets.
“It’s been very busy,” he said.
As for encouraging people to try
and claim the crown for themselves,
Speer said that there is a lot of fun to
be had as the Ambassador.
“You get to do a lot of fun stuff,”
he said, explaining he did enjoy
being in the parades and visiting big
events, “like the tents at the fairs, if
you visit them you get free stuff.”
For more information, on the
school fair, visit the Elementary
School Fair on Facebook.
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By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Making a name
James Speer is making a name for himself, first as one of
the Ambassadors for the Brussels Fall Fair and now as the
2018 Elementary School Fair Ambassador. Speer is seen
here volunteering at the Huron County Plowing Match near
Clinton last week. (Photo submitted)