THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
A group of students from Fort Smith used their spring break to create memories that will last a lifetime.
The students - 33 in all from the travel club at Paul William Kaeser (PWK) High School - travelled to China.
"It was really fun. It was a whole new experience," said Dominique Soucy, a 15-year-old student in Grade 10.
Soucy said she enjoyed experiencing a different culture and seeing the way things are done in China.
Rebecca Wiltzen also enjoyed her time in China, the world's most populous country.
"It was beautiful," she said. "It was quite an adventure."
The 15-year-old Grade 10 student was particularly impressed with all the "cool" architecture in China.
"The Great Wall was the best," she said. "It was so much fun."
Wiltzen also said it was nice to share the adventures with so many other students, including her brother and sister.
"It was good memories to have with them," she said.
During their visit to China, the students experienced Beijing, the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, terra cotta warriors, a rafting excursion, Shanghai and more.
"Honestly, I think it was a great trip. The kids had a great time and great experiences," said PWK principal Al Karasiuk, who said there were only a few small glitches travelling to and from China, but everything went well while in the country.
The students and four chaperones arrived in China on March 24 and left April 3.
Karasiuk said such a trip is beneficial for the students in a number of ways.
"It's self-confidence building. It's exposing kids to the wider world. It's instilling in them an appreciation of their country and how good we have it here in Canada and in the North," he said.
For example, the students saw the gigantic city of Beijing and its air pollution, and experienced some of the restrictions on life in China, such as censored access to the Internet.
"There's a lot of great things about living in Canada that maybe sometimes we take for granted and I think it was certainly an eye-opener from that perspective," Karasiuk said.
The principal said the trip was a combination of seeing the world and learning.
"There is a definite educational component, but I wouldn't say that's first and foremost," he said. "I would say, from my perspective, it's just exposing kids to a little bit wider worldview. Kids in the North tend to be a little bit more insular in their outlook.
"For some of them, it was definitely their first trip out of the country. For others, it maybe would have been their first trip outside of the NWT/Alberta area. So I think people definitely had their eyes opened to the wider world."
The tour was the largest in terms of number of students and the farthest in terms of mileage ever undertaken by PWK's travel club.
