Ashley Kimmel
A year in review: ICE
This year flew by! There were many memories made and many special things experienced (and I think our whole grade can atest to that). Although it's unfortunate it had to end this way, we are thankful for what we got to be involved in. Personally, I have grown from the start of this ICE year to the end. There have been many challenges, opportunities and goals that have all shaped my character as I went through this year. I got many chances to get out of my comfort zone, try new things and explore different ways of learning.
As a person, I have built my character. I leave the ICE year having developed character traits such as determination, resilience and adaptability. Through experiences we have had this year, I have been able to develop these character traits. At the start of the year, we got to take a trip to the island to make mini-documentaries. This was my first time ever creating documentaries, but with a good team by my side, we were able to adapt and really enjoy the experience. Additionally, winter camping was one of the biggest moments that took me out of my comfort zone. Leaving the big city behind, and heading to literally the middle of nowhere was not high on my list of things to do, however, our ICE class took this experience in strides. We made the best of winter camping. I was able to make good friends with Mr. Smith and Jake our Alive Outdoors guide, in the mix tent with 9C (it was a party to say the least). There was never a dull moment, and one thing I will most definitely takeaway is sleeping in a quinzee with Olivia and Somerset. Although Olivia and I were nervous at the start, Somerset was able to calm us down and we really enjoyed the experience.
As a student, I feel like I have developed new skills through projects in this ICE year. I have grown my creativity through media projects like podcasts, documentaries, infographics and photo stories. This year was my first time dealing with almost all of these forms of media, so it let me explore and see which ones I like most. It also made me think out of the box, and create unique ways to display information for people to see. Throughout the year, we had multiple opportunities to use media like these to express our thoughts, so I was able to take feedback from the year, and use it to constantly improve. I challenged myself to use my writing skills in ways I haven’t before in our north stories. I tried to foreshadow in my story, which helped me build the plot, and helped me develop my writing skills. I also got to be creative when making my manual book report, which is shown on the right. The blog post that goes into more depth on that is linked here. Altogether, I developed new academic skills that I can bring forward into the rest of my high school.
Finally, as a Canadian, I have been educated on things that I didn’t understand before. I come out of this ICE year being a much more informed citizen, that can contribute my knowledge on the government, history and character to society. Learning in civics has helped me better understand this country and the systems within it. Going over history and learning about the World Wars and some more recent history, helped me understand what shaped our country today. Ultimately, as a Canadian, I think that this information that I have learned this year is needed to be an informed Canadian.
Now, this is goodbye. Although we all had our ups and downs this year, ICE, you will be missed. This was a special experience like no other. Being a member of the ICE community this year has taught me a lot about our country, people, place, belonging, and has even taught me things about myself. This year was a unique experience, and I definitely take some important things away from it.
Final Documentary: Ashley K.mp4