Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 11/00) - Five William MacDonald students recently returned from Ottawa, where they showed other students from across the country their own sense of national pride.

The five, Adam Hassan, Colin Matthews, Aislinn Stirling, Louise Tumchewics and Roya Yazdanmehi, along with chaperon Jerome Rondeau were in the nation's capital July 11-17 for the National Heritage 2000.

Delegates from all across the country assembled in the Great Hall of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec, to show off their projects centring on various important aspects of Canadian identity and famous persons who helped build the nation's stature on the international stage.

Rondeau, a teacher at William Mac, says his students' projects were definitely on par with those by students from other parts of the country. That's a remarkable feat considering that this year's Heritage Fair marks the first time that NWT students were involved.

"One thing that I was proud of was that this was our first time," Rondeau said.

"Some of the other projects from other provinces had already gone through multiple competitions to get where they were."

"Our projects were just as good as any of their projects down there."

Besides displaying their projects at the museum -- the exhibition took place July 15-16 -- the students enjoyed many other activities while in or near the nation's capital, including a visit to an experimental dairy farm, a tour of Rideau Hall and a trip to the House of Commons.

"We got to see how the government works in Canada," said Tumchewics, who is going into Grade 9 after the summer. "We had a question period with the Speaker of the House, Guy Parent. He kissed me on the cheek to thank me for the Heritage FairT-shirt I gave him."

As for the Heritage Fair itself, the students contend that it gave them a chance to learn about other areas of the country, and for other students to learn about them.

"I wanted a project that was directly related to the North because that's where I'm from," Matthews said, whose project was on native beadwork.

"All sorts of people were asking me about my project. "I had six people make me offers on some of my samples, especially my necklaces. I was really popular."