Massey students rewarded for making a difference with trip to We Day celebrations

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This article was published 18/10/2016 (3596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Saron Teklit, a refugee from Eritrea, knows what it’s like to stand up for what she believes in.

In an African country where Christians can face persecution, she and her family fled. They found safe haven in Sudan before they settled, only five months ago, in Brandon.

Teklit doesn’t take her new life for granted, though.

She’s already volunteering, even while grappling with a new language and culture.

She’s part of Vincent Massey High School’s Youth Revolution group, a collective of some 30 students trying to make a positive difference in their community, and now she’s being rewarded for it.

On Monday, Teklit and a dozen other students at the Brandon school learned they will fly to Calgary next week to attend We Day, a travelling road show encouraging students to pay attention to social justice matters. Their trip is all-expenses paid by WestJet.

Teklit shrugged when asked why she helps others — it simply makes sense.

“If people have a problem, I want to help,” she said.

Her teacher in the Youth Revolution program, Patricia Redekop, is impressed with her commitment to help, especially after years of hardship in the 19-year-old’s own life.

“You’ve helped in everything,” Redekop told Teklit, who replied she wants to take what she learns in Canada and share it with her home country — hopefully once Christians are no longer victimized.

“Because I love my family,” said Teklit, whose extended family remains in Eritrea.

The teacher said the free trip to Calgary includes airfare for four other new Canadians, most who moved to the country in the last few years.

Redekop broke the news to the students’ parents first, about a week ago.

“They’re so proud of them, that their (children are) really involving themselves in the community,” she said. “They’re overjoyed.”

Sophia Padilla, 15, a recent immigrant from Honduras, is thrilled, too. After staff attending the trip debriefed students on initial details, Padilla was brought to tears.

“I’m not sad, no,” she said afterwards. “I cried for the happiness.”

Alejandra Valle, 14, was beside Padilla, comforting her.

The two grew up separately in Honduras, but their paths merged in Brandon.

Valle first had to downplay Padilla’s fears when they were called on the PA system Monday morning. Padilla thought she was in trouble, but Valle told her this visit to the library would probably result in a ticket to Calgary.

Thirteen students are receiving airfare, of approximately 30 who applied. WestJet only offered trips to students in eight schools nationwide.

Teacher Tyler Letkeman, one of three division staff members on the trip, hopes We Day inspires the teenagers.

“They are surrounded by people who are like you, who want to make a difference, who have been working to make a difference,” he said.

The students’ parents were asked to hold onto the secret, which meant the lips of parents like Orlando Whetter were sealed. He won’t be tight-lipped while his daughter is away, though.

“There will be some text messages, and dad getting maybe an hour or two of sleep the one night,” said Whetter, whose daughter Abbie is attending. “But it’s a good experience. There’s no way we would not want our child to participate in something like that.”

We Day Alberta will pack Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome on Oct. 26 with thousands of students. They will hear from inspirational speakers like astronaut Chris Hadfield, mental health advocate Margaret Trudeau and Paralympian Rick Hansen, who travelled 40,000 kilometres by wheelchair to support people with disabilities.

Winnipeg holds its own We Day event next month.

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