Local high school student, Anna Hoimyr, returned on August 24 from a two-week trip across Europe. Hoimyr was able to take on this adventure due to winning an international award from the Vimy Foundation called the Beaverbrook Vimy Prize. The Beaverbrook Vimy Prize is a fully funded, two-week educational program in England, France and Belgium that allows the students selected to study the intertwined history of our countries during the First and Second World Wars.
From hundreds of students across Canada, the UK and France, the Grade 11 student from Gladmar was the only Saskatchewan student selected.
The two weeks were split up so that the first week the students learned about and visited sites from the First World War, including Vimy Ridge. The second week was designated too learning about the Second World War, such as the battle at Juno Beach.
“The more I asked questions, the more I realized how little I knew about the world wars.”
Hoimyr credited this trip as a “100 per cent learning experience you can’t get anywhere else.” She emphasized that your intelligence level doesn’t matter when it comes to being selected to go. The trip is meant as a learning adventure for those strongly interested, so, “don’t think you aren’t smart enough.”
Hoimyr’s most memorable part of the trip was visiting the Essax Farm Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium. Before the trip the students were required write a biography and tribute to a fallen soldier of their choice from the First World War. The soldier had to be buried in France or Belgium and had to have previously lived near where the student currently lives. Hoiymr chose Melville Gordon Ball from Radville, and what was special for her was that she got to read her tribute to Melville on the 100th anniversary of his death.
“It was a real eye-opening experience and allowed me to have a more personal connection to the First World War, which I didn’t really have before.”
(Photo by Lindsay Fraser)
