Bilingual Exchange Students Volunteer at 145th Antigonish Highland Games
Aleisha Laureijs, July 20th, 2008
ANTIGONISH, N.S. - The 2008 Antigonish Highland Games saw participants of a new kind as Antigonish welcomed a group of young volunteers from around the province. The group included nine youth volunteers and two leaders who were participating in a SEVEC Volunteer Youth Exchange.SEVEC stands for the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada. The government funded organization runs several different types of youth exchanges, one of which is the two week Volunteer Youth Exchange program.
“This year it’s operating in five provinces across Canada, and Nova Scotia is the only one in the Maritimes,” explains leader Anne Slauenwhite.
“We have nine teenagers who are looking at working on their volunteer service and their language skills,” she continues. “The first week we will be in an English language community, volunteering at a local festival; the second week we will be in a French speaking community.”
The French component of the exchange will be in held in Claire, Nova Scotia, where they will be volunteering at the Festival Acadien.
Program participants have varying abilities in English and French. “We have some that have been in the core French program, and also some that have been in French immersion, plus one native speaker, so it’s going to be different levels of competence when we get there,” says Slauenwhite.
Participants in the group are from various locations including Cape Breton, Tatamagouche, Caledonia, Queens County, Liverpool, Kings County, and Annapolis Royal. The group seems so at ease with each other it's hard to believe they haven’t always been been friends. When asked if they plan to keep in touch after their exchange experience, they nod affirmatively. “Facebook,” they laugh.
The SEVEC group arrived in Antigonish on Wednesday. “We did some workshops and classroom activities on leadership and team building, volunteerism, and bilingualism,” says Slauenwhite. They stared their work at the Highland Games Friday night, and worked all day Saturday and Sunday. The group leaves for Claire on Tuesday morning.
