Culture and relay combine
Students connect with francophone history through 270-kilometre race
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, June 20, 2016
IQALUIT
Rain, wind, sickness or exhaustion weren't enough to stop Ecole des Trois-Soleils students from pushing one kilometre at a time in a running relay that brought them closer to francophone culture.
Chloe Nevin, Grade 7 student at Ecole des Trois-Soleils, high-fives principal Guy Belanger during a relay race in Quebec. Rain or shine, students had to be ready to do their part in the 270 km journey. - photo courtesy of École des Trois-Soleils |
In late May, 16 students from Iqaluit's francophone school took part in Le grand defi Pierre Lavoie, a relay race that spans 270 km between Montreal and Quebec City.
Trois-Soleils students teamed up with a Montessori school in Magog, Quebec, for the event.
Students spent two days in a bus taking turns to complete two-kilometre segments of the race, rain or shine, night or day.
"It was really really impressive to have lived that," said instructor Yoan Barriault.
"Cold, rainy, sunny, hot - you need to get out of the bus. (The students) realized that it's exhausting physically, mentally."
Grade 7 student Chloe Nevin briefly caught a bug that was going around the bus but pushed through it.
"It was fun," she said. "If I wasn't sick, it would have been more fun. It was really pretty. I would redo it. It was nice to go running after I was sick."
And because there's no gym at Ecole des Trois-Soleils, and there is freezing temperatures during most of the school year, students didn't have as much of a chance to train as some of the southern classes.
"When they got on the bus and the race started, our students realized that these students in Magog were prepared," said Barriault. "They were running for many months. These guys had breath, they were in shape."
Beyond the experience and focus on health and fitness, the race was meant to bring Northern students closer to francophone culture.
The trip had all aspects of historical, social and cultural benefits.
"It needs to be more than just a school thing," said Barriault about the francophone identity.
"You need to create these occasions of 'I want to be a francophone in my life,' what it means to be a francophone. Giving these experiences to kids is giving them the opportunity of discovering what is their francophonie and how do they belong to that."
