Sometimes the best gifts in life aren’t purchased online or from a store, they come in the form of an unexpected surprise.
Well, that’s exactly what 13 Grade 5 students from the small town of Vanscoy, Sask., received Monday afternoon when they were given brown packages with puzzle pieces inside.
With excitement buzzing in the air, the students from Vanscoy Elementary School rapidly put the puzzle together to reveal the trip of a lifetime. They’re all off to WE Day in Manitoba courtesy of WestJet.
What makes this monumental surprise even more special is the group of students is all girls and each detail about the whirlwind trip was met with screaming, shrieking along with happy tears.
“We’ve been keeping this a secret for about a month now so to let them know finally was super exciting,” said teacher Shannon Mcleod, who is also the WE Day club leader at Vanscoy Elementary.
All 13 students are being recognized for their incredible work after coming together as part of a “WE movement” to create a better world both globally and locally.
The girls participated in an anti-bullying campaign, raised over $500 for clean water projects on the other side of the globe and recently collected donations for the local food bank.
“They’re changing the world already,” one parent, Leahann McMorrow, said.
“They’ll change the world in the future but already they’re changing the world and just to go and be with 16,000 other kids and educators who are doing same thing – it’s going to be really exciting.”
The jubilation is two-fold for McMorrow, who also works for WestJet as a customer service representative.
“We’ve done this for five years as WestJet but now I get opportunity to see one of my girl’s joy and get excited about it as well, it’s amazing,” said McMorrow, who didn’t even know about the surprise until the teacher told her.
Over the course of five consecutive years, WestJet has flown over 400 students and educators from rural regions all over the country. This WE Day season alone, 78 deserving students and teachers are being given the chance to experience the event for the first time.
“Some of these girls have never flown before so this is their first airplane experience so I think they’re going to be super pumped even though it’s very, very early in the morning.”
Passengers board the flight from Saskatoon to Winnipeg Oct. 29 with WE Day taking place Oct. 30.
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