Student wins Beaverbrook Vimy Prize
Charlottetown’s Meaghan Bulger has won a scholarship to tour military history in Europe
A Charlottetown high school student will be travelling Europe and soaking in some military history this August.
Meaghan Bulger has won the Beaverbrook Vimy Prize, a prestigious international award from the Vimy Foundation, a Canadian charity, to travel to historical sites in Europe.
Bulger, a recent graduate of Colonel Gray Senior High School, was selected from hundreds of applicants across Canada, the U.K. and France to participate in this flagship scholarship program. She was the only P.E.I. student selected.
The Beaverbrook Vimy Prize consists of a fully funded, twoweek educational program in France and Belgium from Aug. 7-20 to study the intertwined history of our countries during the First and Second World Wars.
The 16 students will attend intimate history lectures; pay their respects at the stunning Canadian National Vimy Memorial; learn from experts at Ypres, Passchendaele and Beaumont Hamel; walk along Juno Beach and other key sites in Normandy; and participate in unique commemoration ceremonies at the Menin Gate (First World War) and at Dieppe (Second World War).
In addition, the participants in the Beaverbrook Vimy Prize program for 2019 have a unique opportunity to visit many of the sites of the First World War a century after the signing of the 1919 Versailles peace treaty.
The Canadian Corps’ accomplishments from Aug. 8 to Nov. 11, 1918 were impressive, though incredibly costly. When the Allies planned the offensives that would ultimately win the war, Canada’s soldiers were given the responsibility of being at the forefront of the attacks.
Beaverbrook Vimy Prize students will be visiting many of the key locations from the Last 100 Days campaign, including Amiens, Cambrai and Mons.
There are no more living veterans of the First World War. Canada has lost that direct connection with their stories - of the tragedy of war, of the reasons why they enlisted to fight, of the impact of the war on them, their families and their countries.
This is why the Beaverbrook Vimy Prize program exists, to keep their legacy alive by engaging today’s youth in discovering more about our shared past.
Bulger is currently enrolled in the international baccalaureate program and loves history. She has a strong passion for Canada’s past and understands how it has shaped our present nation. At Colonel Gray Senior High School, she acted as a writing mentor and a member of four different music groups. Her experience as a cadet sparked her interest in P.E.I.’s military history which she plans to share with her fellow Beaverbrook Vimy Prize recipients.
For more information about the Vimy Foundation and the Beaverbrook Vimy Prize, visit www.vimyfoundation.ca.