Walkerville students at White House ceremony

With Washington, D.C., painting the town red for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit this week, a group from Windsor added a little extra Canadian content at the White House Thursday.

Walkerville Collegiate students Natalie Culmone, Tamara Vujic and Jeremy Burke, along with Greater Essex County School Board director of education Erin Kelly and Walkerville principal Dave Garlick, attended the welcoming ceremony for Trudeau in the White House’s Rose Garden.

“Knowing all the presidents who have walked those hallways and all the historic moments that have happened here, I felt really honoured to be standing there,” Culmone said.

“It’s a moment I’ll share someday with my own kids.”

Before flying home Thursday afternoon, the group also toured the U.S. Senate. The school board covered the costs of the overnight trip.

The group was invited to the White House as the result of the relationship they’ve built with the theatre arts program at Rock Ridge High School in Ashburn, Va.

Rock Ridge theatre arts students were invited to the White House recently for winning the honour of best high school theatre program in the southeastern U.S.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Education became aware of the schools’ collaboration via students’ tweets and suggested to the White House extending the Canadians some invitations during Trudeau’s visit.

“It was difficult not saying anything for a week,” said Vujic of the request for silence due to security reasons.

“Once you receive news as big as this, you want to share it with friends and family.”

After the official ceremony, the two leaders circulated in the garden coming within three feet of the students held back behind the ropes.

They were close enough that classmates back at Walkerville were able to see them on television.

“I could’ve reached out and touched them,” Burke said.

“They were talking to people

and saying hello in two languages. It was surreal being that close to them.”

The Windsor students were fascinated by the reaction of the Americans to Trudeau.

The usual comments on his youth and good looks got a new twist being delivered with a touch of a southern accent.

“It was very funny hearing people shout out to them,” Culmone said.

While the majesty of the White House and the immense power projected by the architecture of Washington, D.C., made indelible impressions, all three students remarked on the speeches the two men gave as being their most memorable moments.

“What stood out to me was the power of the relationship between Canada and America,” Vujic said.

“It was breathtaking, humbling and a real honour to be standing in the Rose Garden witnessing the

ceremony.”

Just as humbling was how the trio got chosen to go to Washington.

“On our own, we decided we’d vote for the leaders in our class to be the ones to go,” said Mackenzie Metcalfe, who watched the ceremonies on TV with her classmates at Walkerville.

“Those three names came out most often. We all wished it was us, but we’re excited for them to represent our class in Washington.”

Watching with them was Walkerville’s head of drama and arts, John Nabben. He triggered this series of events by contacting his counterpart (Anthony Cimino) at Rock Ridge after the board sent him to a conference on incorporating more innovation and creativity into education.

“I think we’re just scratching the surface on this relationship,” said Nabben, who contacted Cimino seeking advice on staging the challenging play Earnest and the Pale Moon since Rock Ridge is the only school in North America to have done so.

“We’re accessing other teachers, students and their experiences outside our classroom and even outside the country. The kids are problem-solving and thinking critically with students all over the world.

“The days of one teacher in a classroom being the source of all knowledge are gone.”

What stood out to me was the power of the relationship between Canada and America.