Ratihén:te exceeds fundraising goal
From left to right, Kahsennine Nelson, Wahianon:ron Nelson, Skanaié:à Serena Ionescu, and Emily Bowles at Ratihén:te High School on January 14. Hadassah Alencar The Eastern Door
At Ratihén:te High School, staff, students, and volunteers can pivot from fundraising to preparing – and answering many students’ questions about – the upcoming trip to Australia and New Zealand.
“A lot of them have been asking silly questions about the Wi-Fi on the plane, if they’re going to get to hold a koala, asking about how big the insects are,” said Kahsennine Nelson, student life animator and one of the chaperones for the trip.
“Everybody seems super excited.”
Last week, the high school announced on its Facebook page that the school had met its fundraising goal to cover the costs of the trip for 14 students. That’s about $117,000.
Another $8,000 that came in above this goal will cover the students’ lunches and give them some spending money for the trip.
Reaching the funding goal “was so relieving,” said Emily Bowles, special education technician and second trip chaperone. “The kids put in a lot of work, Gus and I put in a lot of work, the parents put in a lot of work, and it was a community effort. We would have never reached our goal if it wasn’t for the community and the stores and businesses that donated.”
Next Wednesday, the two chaperones will host a meeting with the students and their parents on what to pack in the suitcase and visa requirements for both New Zealand and Australia.
In just more than a month, on February 25, the students and the two chaperones will embark on the 15-day trip to Australia and New Zealand. The group will first fly to Vancouver, BC, before taking a 14-hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand.
Jet lag may be an issue for the team as they will go three hours back in time when travelling to Vancouver, before jumping ahead 18 hours upon arrival in New Zealand.
But the students remain optimistic.
“We’re time travelling!” said Skanaié:à Serena Ionescu, one of the students going on the trip.
Eleven days of the trip will be dedicated to tourist activities. Snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef, a trip to the Sydney Opera House, a gondola lift through the Australian rainforest and a visit to the hot springs in New Zealand are all on the agenda.
Most of the students going on the trip are getting their passports for the first time, said Nelson.
“Some of them haven’t even gone further than Ontario, or they’ve never been outside of Quebec,” said Nelson. “We’re taking them across the world … so this is huge.”
For the students and teachers, what remains a central part of the trip is to learn about the Indigenous peoples of Australia and New Zealand.
Wahianon:ron Nelson, another student going on the trip, is most excited to learn about other Indigenous cultures.
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“From my understanding, a lot of the culture that we have is so similar to everyone else’s culture,” said Wahianon:ron. “No matter what, we all have some kind of tie. It would be cool to find the similarities between our culture and their culture.”
During the trip, the students will visit different Indigenous groups, such as the Māori people in New Zealand, for cultural events and learning.
“I think it’s really important that we branch off and see that there’s more than just our small community that we call home, and that there’s other cultures,” said Ionescu.
