Metro students win service award
Will travel to France and Belgium to learn about Canada’s efforts in the First World War
Two accomplished Lower Mainland teenagers will head to Europe next month to take part in a prestigious education program that will teach them about Canada’s involvement in the First World War.
Vancouver’s Gladstone secondary’s Hazel Pangilinan and Abhayjeet Sachal, a student at Delta’s Seaquam secondary, beat out hundreds from across Canada and are the only B.C. applicants to win the Vimy Pilgrimage Award, which recognizes young people who show service and leadership in their communities.
“The life of a 15- or 16-year-old these days is busy enough with school and social activities and friends, and these guys take it to the next level in terms of participation and engagement in their community,” said Jeremy Diamond, executive director of The Vimy Foundation.
“These students are ones that are doing incredible things for our community.”
Pangilinan and Sachal, along with 23 other Canadians, will visit France and Belgium to study Canada’s efforts during the First World War. The trip takes place April 7 to 16 and includes visits to battlefields, cemeteries and memorials, including the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
This year’s trip is particularly special because it’s the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, considered a defining moment for Canada in that the victory came at a cost to the Canadian Corps: more than 10,000 casualties.
Pangilinan, who is 15 and in Grade 10, didn’t know much about the battle before she applied for the award and subsequently learned about it in school.
“It intrigued me,” she said. “I knew that the Vimy Ridge battle was a momentous occasion for Canada because it was one of the battles that separated us from being a bridge colony.”
Pangilinan will be expected to teach others what she learned on her trip. She’s used to speaking up as a member of her student council, the Trout Lake Youth Council and the Gladstone Community Schools Team, as well as being a student organizer for Save Our Schools.
Sachal is also active in the community. In 2013, at age 11, he gave a TEDx Talk on his “theory of creativity.” He also organized the 2016 Delta Green Environmental Symposium, and received a $12,000 scholarship from the United States Embassy to take part in the Students on Ice 2016 Arctic Expedition. Sachal is now working on creating a national network through several organizations to connect with suicidal Inuit youth.
Diamond said these are the kinds of students who will act as youth ambassadors for Vimy, ensuring Canadians don’t forget what happened there, and empower others.