Exchange a growth experience for students

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When a group of students from Cumberland House travelled to Barrie, Ont. last month, they were going to meet strangers. When their week long visit ended, they were saying goodbye to friends.

Twenty students from Nisto Awasisak Memorial School made the trip, visiting students from Andrew Hunter Elementary School from Feb. 17 to 24. The trip was the first part of an exchange sponsored through SEVEC (Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges) which will see students from Andrew Hunter visiting Cumberland House at the end of May.

Margo Urff, a Grade 5 teacher at Nisto Awasisak, organized the exchange for students at the school. Among the students taking part from Cumberland House were three Grade 5 students, two from Grade 6, eight from Grade 7, two from Grade 8, two from Grade 9, and three Grade 10 students. Urff had originally planned to limit participation in the exchange to her own home room, but opened it up to the whole school to ensure she had enough students to participate and to make it easier to find a twin school.

"My own homeroom class were 11 year olds, and I was going to say 11 and 12 year olds, but that really limited us . . . They probably wouldn't have been able to twin us. So that is why I've got the wider range," Urff explained.

Urff has organized a number of education visits through SEVEC at other schools she has worked at, but this is the first exchange she's been involved with, and the first for students at Nisto Awasisak, a new school only in its second year of operation.

"I had started the ball rolling back last June, to apply. Said nothing to the kids, though, until we knew that we were approved and twinned, and that took place the latter part of October, that they found us a twin in the school of Andrew Hunter in Barrie, Ont."

The two groups of students spent a very busy week together during the visit to Barrie. On Sunday, the first day of the visit, the students played mini-golf and went swimming during the day, and in the evening met at the school for a board games night.

On Monday, it was off to the Tiffin Centre for Conservation where they did some orienteering and snow shoeing, built a shelter in the woods, tried to build a fire using a foil plate, one match and whatever they could find on the forest floor, and learned about hypothermia. Monday wrapped up with watching movies at the school.

"It was a very full, exciting day," Urff said.

Tuesday, the students spent the entire day in Toronto, visiting the CN Tower in the morning.

"And that was a first for all of them," Urff said.

Tuesday afternoon, the two groups spent about four hours at the science centre, followed by a trip to the IMAX theatre Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday, the students enjoyed a full day of skiing at Horseshoe Valley.

"For some, that was a little bit fearful, but for many, they listed that among their highlights," Urff said. Wednesday night, many of the families took the students shopping at the mall. "This was, again, an incredible experience for some of them," Urff said.

Thursday morning students from Cumberland House gave presentations about their community to students at the host school, and in the afternoon people from the MacLaren Art Centre came in and did a workshop on print making, giving each student a chance to try their hand at making their own print. Thursday wrapped up with the students going to see the Barrie Colts play hockey in the evening.

Friday morning, the students went back to the school to finish off their presentations, and in the afternoon, took part in winter games outside. And Friday night was spent packing up to go home.

When it came time for the two groups of students to say their goodbyes, emotions were running high, Urff said.

"There were a lot of tears. I wasn't anticipating that, because through the first two or three days, the two groups sort of kept their distance a little bit. They would only blend together when we said they sort of had to be with your buddy. Certain nerousness. The last day, tears on both sides."

"I felt that all 20 showed growth in so many different areas," Urff said of the Cumberland House kids that took part in the exchange. That growth was evident during the group's first meeting together following their return.

"Prior to going, when there was a question of being a host in return, reciprocating in May, that was a fearful thought for virtually all of them. Today, when it was brought up, I said 'Remember, I said none of you had to host, I would find other families, teachers, policemen, nurses, whatever. But is anybody interested?' Well, all the hands shot up."

"I felt that that was a real sign of growth and confidence, and to me that's a big reflection of success.

"An exchange was something that was a hard concept for some of them. If they go out for fine arts festival, or Cree language festival, they usually stay four students with a chaperone in a hotel. So this was a major step in reaching out and trust, confidence."

The idea of hosting the students from Barrie in their homes was one of the things that made some students decide against getting involved in the exchange, Urff said.

"They couldn't see themselves receiving what they called a stranger. I said, 'But by the time they come here they won't be strangers', but they couldn't grasp that at that time."