As you know, to celebrate World Book Day 2014, Jump! Mag is sending a story around the world. In fact, we are sending TWO stories around the world. This is STORY B, which starts in Yukon, Canada.
We will publish the entire stories on a special page on the site, so you can read it in one place. Read STORY A here and STORY B here.
UK teacher Grainne Hallahan set a task for 14 schools around the world – to write 200 words of a story then pass it on to the next school, in a different country, on a different continent. We will publish a part of the story every week on Jump! Mag.
Along with their story, we are asking the pupils to share information and photos of their school, their town and their country, which we will post on Instagram and Pinterest. What is it like to grow up in Ghana? Do you really see bears in Canadian cities? Do all kids go surfing in Australia? If you have a question to ask the pupils, please share in the comments or ask on Twitter or Facebook and we will pass on to the school.
We start STORY B in Yukon, Canada with the pupils of Del Van Gorder School.
Del Van Gorder is a K-12 school, located in the isolated northern Canadian village of Faro, Yukon. Faro is a town of 400 and the school has 52 students aged 4-18. We are surrounded by stunning mountains, frozen lakes and rivers, and lots of snow for most of the year. At least once a year we are the coldest populated town on the planet.
Marc Dixon was 18 and not sure what to do with his life. A semester at Montreal’s Champlain Regional College had left him undecided. He’d taken off the winter term, looking for a job or an adventure – whichever came first.
Happily Marc’s folks had surprised him with an Air Canada ticket to go see his aunt who lived in the Yukon, in Canada’s far north. It had been on Marc’s “sand” bucket list since Tante Monique had gone north to work for ReCLAIM Domain, a company that restored defunct mine sites to natural habitat. Marc was definitely for the environment. Wolves, caribou and wolverines needed homes too.
Marc’s aunt had married Doug, a local equipment operator in Faro, who was part of the Kaska First Nations band. His people had lived in this harsh environment for over 20 millennium. Doug’s last name was Shorty, but he was over 6ft – a tall Shorty. Marc’s aunt was 5ft, so she was now a ‘short’ Shorty.
Marc’s adventure started when he landed in Whitehorse in time for Rendezvous. He grinned when he met trappers, mushers and can-can girls as they walked along the quaint, rustic main street. He’d watched men and women pack over 100 kilos of flour packs in a contest that re-enacted the famous Chilkoot trek of the1898 gold rush era.
A month had flown by in no time filled with snowmobiling and ice-fishing and exploring trails around Faro. A major thrill had happened when Marc’s aunt and seven colleagues had won $25 million in a Lotto Max draw. Monique had decided to help Marc continue his “sand” bucket list by giving him an Air Canada ticket as a gift.
He could go anywhere they flew. How was he to decide? The Sphinx? The Eiffel Tower? Machu Picchu? Marc took the dart his aunt gave him, closed his eyes and threw it. “Thwack”! Marc’s eyes snapped to the map. He’d be heading to …
If you enjoyed the chapter from the pupils of Del Van Gorder School, please pass it on to your friends. Check out our #sendastory Pinterest board and our Instagram account for pictures and info about the country featured this week on #sendastory
