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Hay River class recognized in Parks Canada contest

A Grade 9 class at Diamond Jenness Secondary School has earned an honourable mention in a country-wide contest by Parks Canada.

Canada's Coolest School Trip Contest inspired the Grade 9 Social Studies class to show how nature and history are connected and inseparable.

A Grade 9 class at Diamond Jenness Secondary School has finished sixth in a Parks Canada national contest. Among the participants in the contest were, left to right, student Sarah Buth, student Ricther Ignacio and substitute teacher May Famorcan. Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The students' submission – a five-photo essay on their project called 'A Nature Lover is a History Keeper' – finished sixth in the contest, which began in September of last year and concluded on March 21.

May Famorcan, a substitute teacher with the class, explained 'A Nature Lover is a History Keeper' is based on the idea that, if you really love your history, you will go back to nature.

"There's an intermarriage between history and nature because, if you love to keep your history, you would actually be a good steward of nature, because in nature there is actually a big part of our history," she said.

The project focused on various topics, such as the NWT and Wood Buffalo National Park.

For the project, classes had to participate in a stewardship activity contributing to protection of the local environment or focusing on local history or culture, and with a connection to Parks Canada.

They then submitted a five-picture essay showing students working on the project.

As part of the project, Sarah Buth and a group of other students created a collage.

"It's a tree that's made up of different pictures of First Nations people," Buth explained.

The image is to indicate that the roots of culture run as deep as the roots of trees, she added. "Like trees, our culture is always growing with each passing year."

Famorcan hopes the collage can be displayed at the Hay River Heritage Centre.

The winner of the Parks Canada contest was a class from Saskatchewan.

Those students won a June 4-8 trip to explore Parks Canada sites in Ontario.