Sun West Delegates Off To Newfoundland for Canadian Student Leadership Conference

The First Few Days of our National Student Leadership Conference

(submitted by: Sun West Delegates)

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Day 1- Saturday September 24
Spirits were high as 10 Sun West delegates and two advisors boarded the airplane in Saskatoon on our way to CSLC 2011. During our layover in Toronto we met up with the first CSLC delegates that we would encounter on our trip. 20 students and 10 advisors from Weyburn were waiting to board our plane to Deer Lake Newfoundland. Weyburn is the proud host of CSLC 2012, and has brought a full contingent of staff and students to learn the ropes. Our airplane landed in Deer Lake at 4:00 am local time. We made it to our hotels by 5:45 am, with enough time to hit the shower, but not the pillow before our first official day in Newfoundland began at 7:30 am!

 Day 2- Sunday September 25

As the sun rose over Rocky Harbour Newfoundland in Gros Morne National Park, we were feeling a little sleep deprived and a lot excited. We met with the 200 or so other student and adult delegates who were attending the pre conference, and were split into our groups for the next three days. Our Sun West delegation was split up, with Cody, Jesse, Brayden and Kasia following Ms. Marchant and Kerry, Courtney, Sydney, Jenna, Drew and Kaitlyn following Mrs. Vanthuyne. Gros Morne National Park is a Unesco World Heritage Site which encompasses a huge amount of space and is full of lush forest, beautiful ocean views, and rustic fishing villages. It is not uncommon to see lobster traps piled high outside of residences, and hand-knitted wool socks hanging on the line. The people are friendly, the cell service is non-existent in most places, and the landscapes are spectacular! The weather has been seasonably warm, according to the locals, but the cold ocean winds are hard on even the toughest Saskatchewan body.

Ms. Marchant’s group started off in Western Brook Gorge with a 3km boardwalk hike to the Western Brook Pond where we boarded a 2 1/2 hour guided boat ride through the trees, cliffs, and waterfalls of the huge “pond.” This was followed by an afternoon of leadership games and activities on the beautiful beaches of Shallow Bay. We ended our day with a local Newfoundland student theatre performance and a wonderful dinner featuring local cod and cheesecake topped with lingonberries, a popular local fruit. When our heads finally hit the pillow for some much needed sleep our brains were still ringing with leadership cheers, and the names of our new friends from across our country.

Mrs. Vanthuyne’s group started the day off at Bonne Bay Marine Station where they were able to get up close and personal with some of Newfoundland’s sea life. Delegates were able to handle an albino lobster, see live scallops, crabs, mussels and a myriad of marine plants and other fish. We boarded a boat for a boat tour of Bonne Bay, ending with a stop in a beautiful fishing village that didn’t receive real road access until the 60′s, and has retained its traditional Newfoundland charm. Cod fillets were drying in the sun, and socks were being sold off of clotheslines. After lunch we took a guided walking tour of the table lands adjacent to Table Mountain, a towering flat red mountain composed of exposed magma. Our guide described the scientific explanations for the landscapes and the rocks that we were walking among. He also described the local flora and its adaptation that enable it to survive the harsh winter winds and dry summers in the table lands. A group favourite was the pitcher plant, which traps and digests live insects in its leaves. Delegates were given syringes and were able to extract partially digested bodies of insects from the many plants that adorned the ground. After another boat ride and dinner at the hotel, we settled in to a traditional Newfoundland kitchen party with entertainment by rowdy Newfoundland band Anchors Aweigh. We were exhausted when we finally called it a night! 

Day 3- Monday September 26

As another sunny but wind day dawned in Gros Morne National Park, we boarded the bus for our second full tour day of pre-conference. Today’s itinerary consisted of the agenda that our group did not do yesterday. Ms. Marchant’s group completed the agenda that Mrs. Vanthuyne’s group did yesterday and vice-versa. We had another exhilarating and fabulous day with our new friends! We went to bed exhausted once again, and excited about the thrilling Humber Valley experience that awaits us tomorrow!

Day 4- Tuesday September 27

Today we loaded the buses bright and early for the Humber Valley. We left Gros Morne National Park and drove about 1 1/2 hours to just outside of Corner Brook. Today our Sun West delegation would be together for the Humber Valley experience! Our first activity for the day was river rafting on the picturesque Humber River. We were given life jackets and paddles and loaded onto 8 man rafts. We floated down the river for about 1 1/2 hours looking at the beautiful summer homes, dormant ski hills and rock formations that adorn the river banks, guided by a local rafting expert. The tides were very high, which made for very few rapids and a smooth ride!

Our next activity was geo-caching under the tutelage of adventure tourism students from the local College of the North Atlantic. Geo-caching is a treasure hunt of sorts, using handheld GPS devices. We were given a partner, a GPS and a set of clues, and we were on our way!  The last and most anticipated activity of the day was hitting up the high ropes of the Marble Mountain zipline tours. Marble Mountain is open 360 days a year and features 9 zip lines, a few of which are the longest and highest in Canada. The zip lines are suspended over tree canopies, rock faces and waterfalls. Nerves ran high as we were suited up with our gear and driven up the side of Marble Mountain to the first platform. Some of our delegates took the plunge fearlessly, with their arms flying freely, taking pictures and video on each line. Others clung to the ropes for dear life, or kept our eyes tightly closed. Regardless of our technique, we all learned something about ourselves and our power to overcome our fears. The course ended with a joke by the catchers, pretending that they were unable to catch us, and yelling for us to “pull the brakes!” as we hurtled toward the massive green steel pillar that marked the end of the line. As our lives flashed before us, and our fellow zip liner’s uncontained laughter rang up from down below, we hit a large spring that slowed us to a stop and allowed our hearts to start beating normally again! There is nothing like uncontrollable laughter to end an activity on a positive note. After we removed our gear, we quickly piled on to a cheese wagon for the quick trip in to Corner Brook and the official start of CSLC 2011!

After we’d registered and eaten at Corner Brook Regional High, a large school overlooking the beautiful valley and lake in the center of town, we met in our provincial rooms for the opening ceremonies. We were given our Saskatchewan t-shirts and wore them with pride as we marched with the other Saskatchewan delegates into the Corner Brook Pepsi Center and CSLC 2011 became underway! We finished the evening off with songs from a local band and were met by our billet families back in our provincial rooms. We left Corner Brook Regional High excited about the exciting conference to come!

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