Our Lady of the Way School visited by Sask. exchange students

Ken Johnston
Editor

They came east; young men and women!
23 grade 6 & 7 students from Cando, Saskatchewan spent last week in Stratton at Our Lady of the Way School as part of a YMCA youth exchange.
OLWS principal David Sharp said that he was contacted last year by a school in eastern Ontario that was interested in coming to the Manitou Mounds and twinning with OLWS. However it was too late for OLWS to get involved last year, but Sharp put the wheels in motion for this year.
“We knew we were accepted Sept. 30, 2002 and initially were twinned with a school from Montreal,” said Sharp. But that school chose not to come to Stratton. Not long and the school from Cando was lined up with Stratton.
The Cando kids were billeted out in the area and had a very busy and enriching week. Cando chaperone, Tammy Riel said they were kept busy taking a boat cruise on the Rainy River, visiting the Manitou Mounds, touring the Fort Frances mill and museum, touring Heyens dairy farm and a full day of fun last Friday which included lessens in water colour painting by Linda Lovisa.
The program is administered by YMCA but is funded by Heritage Canada. The Cando kids returned home on the weekend and now 28 grade 7 & 8 kids from OLWS will travel to Cando for their part of the exchange.
Riel said that they have rented a summer camp for a week and that the Stratton kids will have a busy week of learning things like traditional canoeing and touring the Coal Lake Air Force base.
Sharp said that the goal of the exchange is to make it as enriching as possible with as little cost to the students (or their parents). “The cost is about $100 per student, but we fundraised and the cost worked out to about $30 each.”