Saskia Diplock

It's been an eventful year, from heading up to wanakita on the first day of school, to sleeping in quinzees at winter camping, to missing out on challenge week because of a global pandemic. Through it all, I always had ICE class to look forward to. Going into grade nine, I tried to keep a positive attitude, though I wasn't too excited about spending my entire day stuck in the classroom. ICE turned out to be anything but that. With all our snack breaks, laughs and jokes in the classroom, and excursions across the city, ICE class became something I couldn't wait for. This year, I bonded with so many new people and made so many significant memories. I'm eternally grateful for my teachers and friends who helped make this year so special.

So, what have I learned about myself as a person? Well, I learned this year is that I'm very adventurous. I put myself out there this year and took risks. A few of these risks included interviewing strangers for my documentaries and podcasts and trying unfamiliar things on trips, including wanakita. I never thought that I would be sleeping in a pile of snow, but that's where winter camping took me. It was an experience that I won't soon forget, sleeping with my toes sticking out into the cold. And when we turned our lamp on, illuminating our small space? It was strange to see the white snow making a roof above us. (Granted, it was a low one, but still).

What I've learned about myself as a student this year is that I really like the hands-on approach to learning. My favourite trips were when we ventured out to Toronto island to interview residents, when we went to Kensington market to take photos, and when we went winter camping to learn about the north. I enjoyed these excursions because we were learning about our country and doing work while also enjoying ourselves and bonding as a class. Grade nine is also the first time we're really getting more freedom, being high schoolers now. I thought it was nice that we were given the independence and freedom to explore and figure things out for ourselves. Like I said, I enjoy the hands-on learning a lot, and I hope that I can continue to explore and discover in grade ten.

Finally, what I've learned about myself as a Canadian. What I've learned this year is that as a Canadian, I have rights and responsibilities, and I need to be an active citizen. We talked a lot about that this year, but somehow our whole class still managed to do badly on that civics test. Anyway, I learned about the things I can do to take action in my community. This is partly what spurred on my service project. For my community service hours, I decided to start ski instructing. It was amazing to teach the kids and get a feel for what working as an employee is like. I will definitely continue to ski instruct next year. This year, I also got to learn more about Canadian history and culture, with all the bad parts and the good parts. An example of this is when we read the novel Indian Horse. It exposed some of the Canadian history we are less proud of, including residential schools and the treatment of indigenous Canadians. It was sad to read about the treatment of Saul, a young boy, but I learned a lot about history and how truly awful residential schools were.

Overall, I'm proud of myself for working hard this year and taking new risks. I'm thankful to the ICE teachers, who helped me learn and accomplish many new things. Although it's sad to say that the ICE year is over, I look forward to using what I learned this year in grade ten. Finally, below here is a group photo of my class, 9D, from when we went winter camping.