Churchill Students Represent at Rideau Hall!

It took a lot of action, by staff, students, and parents, to pull it together, but we were able to plan, arrange, and carry out a field trip to see the swearing in ceremony in less than 24 hours, and we had 100% participation with forms coming in from every student in the class.  Well done team 308!  I think it said a lot about how connected the students, and community, are to the events of the day, and the idea of a special opportunity. I need to thank our administration for supporting the crazy last minute idea, and remind parents that the cost for the trip was just a toonie, and that several students only brought in the form, so we will collect those toonies in the coming days.  
The event was impressive, and there was excitement in the air leading up to the arrival of the PM designate, and his designates for Privy Council.  The reaction of the crowd was fun to witness.  All that being said, I was more impressed by the way that our students represented themselves, and our community, and you, as parents, should be proud of them today.  We had to stand in a large crowd to gain entrance to the grounds, and the students listened closely to all instructions, and made it an easy transition.  They watched, and made absolutely appropriate observations throughout the 2 hours of the ceremony.  There were virtually no complaints, and only a few restless bodies.  
Prior to the swearing in we broke out some ukuleles and played Oh Canada, to which the crowd all around joined in, and then applauded afterwards.  We followed up with a song the School of Rock is preparing for Remembrance Day - Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream.  It also drew a lot of attention, and applause.  
I spoke to one of the people serving hot chocolate to the crowd, and they mentioned how impressed they were with the politeness of our students, and many others commented on how impressed they were with a group of young people who were so excited about the event.  Another warm moment was when we had left the swearing in, to play some games on the cricket field.  The national anthem was played back at the ceremony, and though it was a few hundred meters away, and tough to fully hear, our students all stopped around the field where they were playing, and stood still to sing along.  Again, they did us all proud, and made it a pleasure to take them along today.
The long term impressions of today on the students will be tough to gauge, but there was a lot of discussion amongst them that focused on the ceremony, the wording, language, diversity, the use of the word God, or the omittance of it by some MP's...all really relevant topics for discussion, and much of it deeper than the conversations being held by adults in the crowd.  
That being said, these were some of the reflections by our class upon returning to Churchill this afternoon...

"Everyone at the event was so enthusiastic" - Stella
"Playing in the big field was fun" -
"Justin Trudeau waved to me, Leo and our group!" - Marcus
"It was sweet to see Justin's family walking with him" -Mina
"I wish I could have shaken his hand" -Josh
"Some of the crowd were so excited to see him that they were really rude!" -Wyatt
"I like that Trudeau's middle name is P.J." -Heather
"It was cool to see our local MP, Catherine Mckenna, taking the oath" 
"I really liked the grounds" -Grace
"What's the deal with the blue stripes on that Canada Flag we saw there?" -Mina (it represents the duality of two languages and cultures in Canada - anglophone and francophone, and was being carried by a spectator)

"It was so crowded and went on for so long!" -Leo

"It looked very fancy inside" -Heather

"I liked how they mentioned the Algonquin lands we were standing on, and how they had throat singers perform" -Stella