A New West teen will retrace the steps thousands of soldiers took almost a century ago at Vimy Ridge.
Somaya Amiri is headed to France next month after winning the Vimy Pilgrimage Award last year. The seventeen-year-old was one of twenty Canadians selected to participate in the all-expenses paid program, which recognizes Grade 9 to 12 students who do outstanding things in their community.
The week-long adventure focuses on teaching students about Canada's First World War effort, with classroom sessions and field trips to various war sites.
"The idea is to really give them an opportunity to let a textbook come alive," said Jeremy Diamond, executive director of the Vimy Foundation. "When you're at places like Vimy, you don't understand it until you're there."
Amiri, who lives in New West but goes to school in Vancouver, told the Record winning the prestigious award is "an amazing feeling."
"It was so unbelievable because when I applied, I wasn't sure if I'd get it. It was a 500-word essay, so I thought I'll see what happens," she said about getting the good news.
According to Diamond, Amiri had an impressive list of achievements. Having emmigrated from Afghanistan nearly four years ago, Amiri couldn't speak a speck of English. She quickly picked up the language, and in a few short months, started an English club for her and her peers.
"There wasn't really a safe environment where ESL students could speak English without the fear of being judged," she said. "So then I applied to the Vancouver Foundation for a grant and got $5,000. The club has been running for three years now, with more than 100 students."
Joining the humanitarian club at her school, which runs both local and global fundraising campaigns, was also on her radar.
"One year, we raised money for clean water, had a penny drive and sold buttons. Last year, we raised money to build a school," Amiri said. "We also do soup kitchens, raise awareness about homelessness, all of that kind of stuff."
If that's not impressive enough, the youth has also been trained to facilitate after school workshops on sexism and genderism, as part of Vancouver's CitizenU initiative.
"You'd think that anybody born in Canada who knew the native language would have a hard time doing these things, but to come from a different country, with other challenges on her plate, it was a real opportunity for us to reward her," Diamond explained.
When asked what she's looking forward to most during the Vimy trip, Amiri said it's learning more about the war and "just reflecting on everything."
"Also learning what my responsibility is as the new generation, to preserve history, especially with everything happening around the world," she noted. "It's not past history, it's a history that's still happening. What can we learn and what can we do about it."
There were more than 250 submissions for this year's Vimy Pilgrimage Award, Amiri being one of three students from B.C. to win the honour (the other two were from Vancouver). The group heads out April 5 and returns April 13.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge began on Monday, April 9, 1917 and lasted three days. Canadians came out victorious, capturing the ridge from the German army, and emerging as a united front, both at home and abroad.
For more information about this historical event, visit www.vimyfoundation.ca.
