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News and Events
SLIS Band Delivers Team Cornwall Message
By Philip Everson
Students model their Team Cornwall sunglasses during a visit by SLIH to Similkameen Elementary Secondary School in Keremeos, British |
To many teens visiting the village of Keremeos, British Columbia (Population: 1200) as a school trip would seem a little unexciting, to say the least. However, those who thought it to be unexciting were soon proven wrong.
This year the St. Lawrence Intermediate School grade 9/10 Band participated in a SEVEC youth exchange program sponsored by the Government of Canada. As a member of the band, my peers and I had the pleasure of meeting students from the Similkameen Elementary Secondary School from Keremeos, British Columbia. The Similkameen band is led by Anita Prest, who was nominated for and received British Columbia’s Favourite Band Teacher award, an award sponsored by the CBC.
Arriving in British Columbia on May 20th, after 3 flights across this nation, the SLIS band, made up of 30 students, was experiencing the effects of jet lag. For the first time flyers, it was a bit nerve racking. The thought of grade 9 student Justin Kyte, hanging on to the armrest for protection on the first sharp turn, continues to bring a smile to my face. Not to be alarmed, all 10 first time flyers made it with no severe issues, other then pure fright.
We all landed safely in Kelowna and took a 2 hour bus ride to Keremeos, where we were greeted by our anxious host families. When the students from Keremeos visited Cornwall last month, they stayed with the families of the SLIS students. Introductions were much more personal this time around, as recipes for an SLIS student’s “sugar pie”, and other items were exchanged amongst families and their guests.
Day two of our visit began with a trip to the Mascot Mines located in Hedley, about 20 minutes from Keremeos. This particular 1930’s mine was known for the vast amounts of gold, silver, and copper, as well as state of the art mining facilities and techniques. The students from SLIS and SESS visited the mine and toured the tunnels as well as the production area. The biggest challenge was the 580 stairs that had to be climbed. But the challenge was well worth it, because the view was breathtaking.
Following the Mascot Mines tour, we, along with our host families, visited the Ashanola Pow-Wow grounds. While there, we enjoyed cultural food, dances and song. You can expect to see Cody Holiday, a grade 9 student, on Dancing with the Stars in the coming months.
On Thursday and Friday, we began our participation in the “Music under the K Festival”. Students performed at the school and at Memorial Park. For those of you not familiar with “Music under the K Festival”, it is an outdoor Music Festival showcasing bands from Keremeos, from as far away as Calgary, Alberta. It is called “Music under the K” because of a huge ‘K’ that is etched into the mountain face, which can be seen in the background at Memorial Park.
During many of our performances, our band received thunderous applause whenever it was mentioned that we were from Ontario. We played twice on Friday, performing the crowd favourite “The Best of Queen”, a Queen Medley. It is almost everyone’s favourite piece in the band. In the park we got to enjoy many performances by Tillers Folley, a Celtic group, as well as Kutapira, a band consisting solely of percussion instruments. Our percussion players got to meet with Kutapira and work with them on Saturday morning. They were very excited about working with a group of experienced players. While the percussion students were with Kutapira, the rest attended clinics according to their instrument’s family. In these clinics, interesting facts were learned and we had an opportunity to work on the massed band piece.
Since April, all the bands attending “Music under the K” had been practicing pieces that would be performed as 1 giant mass band. There were over 600 kids playing with the Foothills Brass, (a professional brass group), Saturday night in Memorial Park. Following the mass band performance, all 600 students attended a dance back at SESS. Because this was the 10th anniversary of the festival, a piece of music was commissioned for the event. All 600 students managed to pull it together just in the nick of time.
By Sunday, all the students were beginning to feel a little down, as they knew their trip was coming to a close. Following the delicious pancake breakfast, the host families and students were set loose in the community for a day of freedom. Some went to a local hunting range, while others attended the cinema in Penticton, a half hour drive away. Some even went go-carting and golfing.
Sunday evening was spent at a local hall where a potluck was prepared and food was enjoyed by all. Various presentations were made, including a slideshow of pictures, showing scenes of our trip, several of which involved fits of laughter and tears of joy. Following the slide show, the students tried out their sunglasses which were generously donated by Team Cornwall, and the official group photo was taken. We thank Team Cornwall for the coolest exchange gift in the gift basket. We also got Team Cornwall pins. That’s one thing this exchange has had, lots of pins. But each one is different and a treasured collectable. Thank you Team Cornwall.
Monday morning came fast for many of the students, as we all met at the school around 7:15 am to gather for the flight home. The goodbyes can definitely be considered painful, as tears were shed by at least half the group. The flight home was quieter than the one to British Columbia, as many were somber and some slept from the sheer exhaustion of the week’s events.
This trip is something that all students will remember for many years to come. New friends have been made, and memories and stories will be told for a long time. One thing is for sure, none of it would have been possible without the hard work of our chaperones; Lynn Bergeron, Marlene Lalonde, and music director, Erin Durham. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to see and experience Keremeos, British Columbia!
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