Student wins Beaverbrook Vimy Prize
Stan ford Li is a 16-year-old with a love ofhistory. His curiosity about events that helped shape the world resulted in the Beacon s field student winning the Beaver brook Vimy Prize. Li is one of 16 students from Canada, the United Kingdom and France—selected from hundreds of applicants ranging in age from 15 to 17 — who won the prize an d will head to Europe on Thursday for a two-week all-expenses-paid trip that will take them to First and Second World War sites and memorial sin England, Belgium an d Fran ce, as well as to lectures at Oxford University. Applicants for the prize had to demonstrate strong researching skills, submit an analysis of a war painting and write an essay. Li, a Grade 11 student at S elwyn House School, won for his essay about the experience of Chinese labourers during the First World War. “I found a painting of a Chinese labourer,” Li said .“I didn’ t expect to see a pain tin g like that in the (war archives).” The discovery in spired him to fin d out more. During the First World War, the British govern men t recruited 140,000 Chinese labourers to lend support on the front lines. They were called the Chinese Labour Corps. “They took a boat from Chin a to Vancouver, then a train from Vancouver to Halifax and another boat to Europe ,” Li said .“Then they were sent to the front line to dig trenches—without weapons. They would come under fire as they worked. I am sure man y return ed with terrible memories.” Post-traumatic stress disorder was the theme of this year’s competition ,which is administered by the Vimy Foundation. The trip includes a visit to the Vimy Memorial. The Battle of Vimy Ridge began April 9, 1917, an d raged for four days, with 3,598 Canadian soldiers killed and 7,004 wounded. It is seen as a defining moment in Canadian history. Li’s mother has strong links to the Second World War. Her father was 16 years old when he married her mother in China. Mere days after the wedding he was sent away to fight. He was gone for eight years and with the sparse communication options at the time, his young bride became desperate to find out what had happen ed to him. So she sent her brother to find him. The brother never returned. But Li’s grand father did and he was forever chan ged. It is something the family does not like to discuss, but Li suspects his grandfather suffered from PTSD. “It didn ’t have a name back then and people didn’t talk about it,” Li said. “You suffered in silence because you didn’t want to be called a coward.” It will be Li’s first visit to Europe. He hopes to share his travel experien ces with his schoolmates. “People my age don’t talk about the wars much,” Li said. “It’s important to know about the (two conflicts) because without understanding the sacrifices made by these soldiers, you can ’t truly be grateful for the freedom we experience today. Young people need to understand that it’s not a case of their bein g en titled to freedom — to take it for gran ted. The freedom we have (n ow) was earn ed in blood.” The group will post on YouTube and Instagram during the trip. For details, search Beaverbrook Vimy Prize 2018 on YouTube.