St. Pat's student heads to France
Seth Karstad one of three Canadians heading to France for student conference
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Seth Karstad said he's excited to be one of three Canadian students going on a trip to the heart of France.
Seth Karstad, 17, is headed to France in July. He's one of three Canadian students participating in Generation Bilingue 2015, a conference of bilingual Francophone students from 34 countries who will meet to discuss world issues in Paris. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo |
The 17-year-old St. Patrick High School student has won an academic contest earning himself a ticket to Paris in July, where he'll take part in Generation Bilingue 2015, a meeting of about 60 students from 34 countries.
The idea behind the meeting is to give bilingual students an opportunity to study history, art history and science.
Organizers approached Yellowknife Catholic Schools with an invitation to take part in the exercise, said Jean-Yves Drouin, who added that Karstad had to beat out four other candidates for the opportunity.
The high school French teacher said Karstad was chosen to represent his school and the territory based on his academic performance and an essay explaining why he ought to be the one going on the trip.
He'll be joined by a student from Edmonton and a student from Calgary, who are the only other Canadians going, said Drouin.
He said Karstad will be meeting lots of new faces and hearing lots of new voices.
"They're talking about (bringing students) from about everywhere from Costa Rica to Bulgaria, many places in Europe and even places like Vietnam, Turkey, Thailand," said Drouin. "A pretty diverse number of countries."
Karstad said he has been part of French immersion programs since he was in kindergarten in Saskatchewan. He said he moved to the city when he was about 12 years old.
Karstad said he's already been to Italy and Austria and is looking forward to rounding out his European experience in France. He'll take part in discussions and debates with the other visiting students on topics like freedom of speech and climate change, he said.
"I'm excited to see France and French culture, and I'm interested in the workshops as well, some of them sound like they'll be quite good," he said, adding that he is a bit nervous to carry on a debate in French.
"But everyone else participating, French is a second language for them as well," he said.
