School District 69 (Qualicum) students garnered honours in the 2020 Royal Canadian Legion Youth Remembrance Contest, where they created posters, essays and poems to express what Remembrance means to them and their country.
Initial judging took place at the community level by volunteers at the Parksville Royal Canadian Legion Branch 49 and the winning entries then progressed to judging at the Central Vancouver Zone and the provincial level.
Thunya Dudley, a student at the Nanoose Bay Elementary School, wrote a poem that focused on the issue of post-traumatic stress syndrome or PTSD.
It won her first place in the Central Vancouver Zone in the intermediate division and also first at the provincial level. Dudley was presented with first-place certificate at the Parksville Legion Branch 49 by president Gale Mossman and Poppy Zone chair Michelin Sen.
READ MORE: Annual Qualicum Beach Legion Literacy and Poster Contest underway
Here’s Dudley’s winning poem, which is now entered in the Dominion Level. where it will go up against entries from across Canada.
I’m Fine
You look at me
I’m fine
I lie
PTSD is hidden inside
The memories, they are engraved in my mind stuck like a movie on repeat
Sitting here in the backseat,
I don’t want to talk
I’d rather not walk
Away from the ones I love
You look at me,
I’m fine
I lie
PTSD is hidden inside
Simple things bring me back
To times I want to forget
Sadness and anger rush through me I’m not sure what I am
I stare out the window
I doubt it will ever end
You look at me
I’m fine
I lie
PTSD is hidden deep inside
I cannot sleep
I cannot eat
I cannot beat my PTSD
Dudley is a talented literary student who has garnered honours in other competitions. Last year, she won first prize in the junior category of the 2019 Islands Short Fiction Contest for her story ‘The Old Clock.’
Other School District 69 winners were:
• Amy Fuchs of Ballenas Secondary, first place intermediate black-and-white poster in the Central Vancouver Zone and third place at the provincial level
• Joanna Waite of Ballenas Secondary, first place senior essay writing in the Central Vancouver Zone and second place at the provincial level.
• Gabriella Geib of Errington Elementary, first place in the intermediate colour poster in the Central Vancouver Zone.
All the winning entries and their work can be found at https://www.legionbcyukon.ca/what-we-do/2019-2020-youth-remembrance-contest