Embedded Reporters 2009:
Ashliegh Curlew, Brittany Moore and Ashley Cymbaluk
Summerhill Elementary Hosts Regional Heritage Fair
A gym: picture a room the size of two swimming pools attached, filled with project constructed from the hearts of the brilliant kids who filled the room. Students - comfortable on the floor, Family and Supporters – surrounding the back and sides, welcomed guests – sitting in big leather chairs to the right; this is the set up scene as the opening ceremonies started for the Regional Heritage Fair at Summerhill Elementary School in Oromocto. Mackenzie Raper and Dawson Perry stepped up to the mic to start off the day dressed up in later day ‘traveling’ clothes. With enthusiasm these two MC’d the ceremonies. First off, the choir from the school sang us O’ Canada and with their heart and soul belted out the lyrics to I love the Whole World and I Have Canada in my Pocket – even the crowd sang along.
An introduction and welcome from Principal Rosa Mc Ewing set the mood for the whole day. As speeches were said by Jodi Carr, Carol Ward, Marilyn Ball and honored guests alike, you could see anticipation on each child in the crowds face – they have been waiting for this day, now it is here and each and everyone one of them couldn’t have been more excited. The ceremony was about to get exciting, as the Dance Cluster from the school opens the stage to a dance to the new hit song ‘Jai Ho.’ The whole crowd was captivated by the skills and excitement of the dancers before them.
Brittany Dugas stepped up with confidence, excitement and glow on her face as she introduced the Regional Fair to everyone in the room as an Alumnus of such and Heather Cripps gave an overview of the day. The Heritage Fair is an event thrown annually, first there are individual School Fairs and the winners from that continue onto the Regional and so on and so forth until the National Fair. What it is, is the chance for students of the lower levels to look into their past – every year focusing on a new part. In 2009 it was a look at traveling. It allows students to participate at an academic level with an enjoyable and enriching learning experience for all.
Students from all over New Brunswick pick a topic of their choice, research it and get the chance to share what they have learned at fairs through poster boards, paintings, models and such. It gives students the chance to learn but learn in their own way and have fun with it – a prize at the end isn’t always a bad thing either.
Now as the day was set at this particular fair, the judges prepared to judge and the students prepared to teach – they separated into 4 groups; one in the gym for judging and the other 3 would go off to the clusters they had prepared and rotated every little while. Not only an exciting day but also an individual different experience too.
Childhood Excitement to Learn – A Remarkable Experience
Think back to when you were in grade 3, 4 maybe even 5 – it doesn’t matter your age now. You might have had the chance to take part in a science fair, or a heritage fair just like this one. But, do you remember the feeling of putting days, weeks or work into a project just busting for the day to explode with information. You dressed up, or make mental notes – everything possible to make your project that much better. That’s what could be felt in the atmosphere at the 2009 Heritage Fair. Students had put their hearts into these projects and would just light up at the chance to share. The gym was filled with projects; from Ogopogo, The Rose Princess, Maple Syrup, Balloon Fiestas, The Covered Bridge and everything in between. You could just feel how much hard work went into the projects as soon as you walked through the door.
One of the eye-catching projects was the last in the gym, furthest away, alone in the corner – a beautiful painting stopped you right in your tracks. Tommy Nicholson, from Ridgeview Elementary, did an amazing project on dog sledding; he focused on the history which started it, and how it became apart of our culture here. The project was set up on a big project board with everything you could ever want to know – in French and English. In front on display was a rope with a sheet of paper showing different knots they would have used, and breakdown of a typical sled – the breath taking part was a painted picture of the mountains from up North: inspiration from Bob Ross who took an afternoon to hand paint this with a knife - that’s right, a knife.
Mackenzie Sharky portrayed women from the world wars in a respectful way; dressed up as a factory woman, homemade later day treats and poster to boot. Another exceptional project was one that caught my attention and it was something that, after living here for years, I had not heard of: The Balloon Fiesta held every year in Sussex. If you asked you would have learned that it was started by one man and now collects hundred of spectators and participators every single year.
One of the most inspiring projects was on the simple aspect of maple syrup. Cameron Blanchard, a little boy dressed in his best with glasses, stood in front of a yellow project board and a confident smile on his face. The reason his project stood out was the yellow background and the anticipation on his face; he was just waiting for someone to ask him about it. He was full of information and knowledge, something anyone could admire. Although, he walked away without an award he walked away with many of our hearts.
Here it is, a fair that lets children’s knowledge, smiles and confidence radiate. Their Heritage is an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.
They Called Them Clusters, We Called Them Learning Experiences
As a group of students are in the gym, being judged, the three other groups could be rotating into clusters, or workshops, said up by different people from the community. The clusters were interesting and exciting and gave the students the chance to relax and enjoy the day as they waited for their turn to have their hard work judged.
Captain Peter Fedak, from Base Gagetown, would bring modern travel into the fair in his own way. He is an interesting man with a great sense of humour who grabbed the student’s attention with his own experience. He had his laptop playing a slide of photos from when he was in Afghanistan on tour. They even saw the plane he flew for months while he spent his time over there. Also, he had a video playing of him flying just south of the Red Desert. The video showed the students how the shooters in the back of the plane do target practice. As we are a military community, and some of the students even have parents deployed, it really hit home. This is/was undoubtedly exciting and the kids asked questions galore.
An energetic and enthusiastic student in the class was awaiting the students. Crystal Hanson, a music guru, made the whole room light up and everyone welcome and fully involved. She was full of life and just grabbed the attention of every single student. All of the kids were in a circle on the floor and were all ready to see what she was going to offer them. She brought out four different instrument groups; woods, metals and shakers. Each person picked what instruments they wanted and together made an instrumental song. As they played, Jaclyn Rowan, one of the best tap dancers and fiddlers in Canada tapped to the beat they had created. After a few minutes of music and laughter playing they were entertained by Jaclyn playing the violin. The excitement was still there as they walked out the door for the next workshop.
Artistic, life-loving students were sure to love the final cluster. Robert Hanson, Crystal’s father in law, showed the students breathtaking and beautiful photos, books and paintings that he had put his heart into. His book was homegrown, created with his family, his photos were beautiful and his paintings were ‘stop you in your tracks’ beautiful. He talked about going for your dreams, showing New Brunswick to the world and other things that would just catch and hold the eyes of each student sitting in the room. He was funny, he was smart but he could get to their level and connect.
All three clusters were amazing and kept the students' minds off what was coming next – judging. The cluster teachers loved the chance to reach out to young minds and the students loved being able to focus on something exciting.
An End to the Hard Work
Two tables sat at the front of the gym the entire day with awards, puzzles and goodies alike. The entire day the children looked at that table with faces of hope and anticipation; hope that their projects would have grabbed the attention of the judges; and anticipation for the ceremony they had awaited weeks for.
The students had a full, busy day of projects, learning and presentations. They had the chance to learn something new from the three clusters, show off all their hard work to the judges and enjoy a cake that they thoroughly deserved. As the day came to an end they all took their seats on the floor just as they had hours before. Their parents circled around behind them with hopeful hearts and chins held up proud. The ceremony would start off with the event coordinator wrapping up the day.
Then the time every child in the room waited for - the presentation of awards. Each and everyone one of them knew their projects were amazing; a little girl sat in the front with a smile on her face just awaiting her name. There were many, many awards for almost every kind of project but there were just more projects than awards. As the first one was called every little one’s back in the room went straight - and it continued. There were 12 official awards presented by many different honoured guests including RCMP officer Marie Dumont. Each of them was presented to students with the biggest smiles and proudest faces imaginable. Also, on top of the awards were prizes for individual projects and then gifts for participants that had amazing projects that were just under the bar.
The ceremony was short and simple, but a moment that those students will hold close to their hearts for a long time to come. The ceremony came to an end and the children were sent to get their projects and board the buses. As the projects were being taken down you could almost feel a wind of relief spread through the room and out the door – they had worked months for this day and could finally relax after a day of a million emotions and words.
All of the students are congratulated on their hard work and commitment and there is hope to see them again next year with just as much effort.