www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, March 9, 2012 · 18 Oakville teens exploring the wonders of China By Madeline Turriff, Grade 11, Thomas A. Blakelock H.S. As you read this article, I along with 68 other students from Blakelock, will be exploring the crazy and wonderful streets of Beijing. On Wednesday, March 7, we took a 16-hour direct flight half way around the world to Beijing, the capital of The Middle Kingdom, or China, as we know it. You see, as the average Oakville teen is either tanning it up in Panama for the week, or in full-on hibernation mode, our Blakelock group will be experiencing the wonders of a civilization that traces back thousands of years. Even though it was so long ago, I can still remember being in Grade 7 and watching T.A. Blakelock's Senior Wind Ensemble as they played for my class at École Pine Grove Public School. At the end of the performance, the conductor, Mr. Brian Vincent, told us that they were going to be travelling to Cuba the following year. I thought that was pretty cool, but what really got my attention was when he told us that if we kept with the music program, we could have the chance to travel to China when we were in Grade 11. And you know what? He was right. Some highlights of our trip will include: visiting Tiananmen Square, as well as the Forbidden City, a Beijing roast duck dinner, Tai Chi in the Temple of Heaven, seeing the Terra Cotta Army, lunch with a local family and we will have a performance on the Great Wall of China. When we get there, we will also be doing an exchange with two different high schools -- Beijing No. 65 and Xi'an No. 26 schools. For the exchange, we were all divided into different groups according to our interests, so I will be playing flute in the band, but we also have basketball and volleyball teams going, as well as a choir. The trip was opened up to all students in Grades 10-12 who were taking a science, music, history or gym course and who were committed to spending time outside of school to prepare. We've had countless practices in our exchange groups, as well as weekly lunchtime meetings. We've also had special evening meetings where we've learned about the Chinese culture, as well as the extremely complicated language of Mandarin. Let's just say that I expect a lot of laughter while I attempt to communicate with the locals. Even though I think that this whole trip is going to be amazing, I have to say that the thing that I am most excited for, is visiting The Beijing Sun Village Special Children Aid Centre. We will have the opportunity to plant trees with the children that live there. This experience is one that not many students in Oakville get to have and I am very lucky to be one of the very few who are able to go. Local students honoured in architectural design competition As a community initiative, John Willmott Architect Inc. (JWA) recently launched an Oakville-based student design competition. The competition, held last October, was open to all Oakville Grades 11 and 12 students interested in design or architecture. The students were required to design a public announcing booth and storage structure for the west baseball diamond at Cornwall Park. Of the 14 students that participated in the competition, 11 submitted final entries. Each participant presented a short verbal description of their design and answered questions from the panel of jury members, during an awards event held in December 2011. Entries were judged on design concept, overall presentation, technical detail, and drawing quality. Oakville Trafalgar High School's Anders Yeung captured first place, while Anna Longrigg of Holy Trinity High School and Zack Di Caro of OT came in second and third, respectively. Honourable mentions went to: Scott Mackie of Iroquois Ridge High School; Meghan Chadwick of Thomas A. Blakelock; and Kamil Kruk of St. Ignatius of Loyola The JWA 2012 Student Design Competition will take place in September.