Freshmen Class Conquers Mont-Ste-Anne by QHS Student Life Teacher, Fannie Marsh
Every year at QHS, we open our doors to the incoming Freshmen Class, our secondary 1 or grade 7 students. Every year, many of them have that “deer-in-the-headlights” look. They have left the confines of elementary school where they were the kings and queens of the hill. Now, entering QHS they find themselves starting all over again at the bottom of the hill looking up! For many of the readers, you may or may not know that Quebec High School now has 6 feeders schools sending students our way: Ste-Foy Elementary, Holland Elementary, Everest Elementary, Portneuf Elementary, Valcartier Elementary, and New Liverpool Elementary (once called St. Vincent’s Elementary). The challenge we have is how to get all these students coming in from all the different elementary schools to begin to feel a part of the QHS family. Traditionally,
we held a Freshmen Night, which was an evening of ice-breaker games and competitions allowing students to have fun and begin to meet some new friends. This year, we wanted to make a change to the traditional Freshmen Night Activity and created a Freshmen Challenge Activity. So, a 4km hike up Mont-Ste-Anne was planned! As they stood looking up the mountain, they were listening to some orders given by myself and QHS outdoor education instructor, Derek Chan. “Along the way you will stop to be challenged by some team building activities. You will need to work together to overcome these challenges, so be prepared. BUT, to get you started, here is the first challenge. You MUST successfully take the three giant, wooden Q H S letters and carry them all the way up the hill so that we can use them in our group photograph at the top of the mountain!” Without hesitation the keen students amongst the group grabbed a letter, and headed off up the hill, and when they got tired, they passed the letter off to the next group that was rested and ready to carry the load. As time ticked away, student council members and staff volunteers were awaiting the group at the top of the hill, preparing lunch, snacks and drinks for the tired students. What a great day watching these kids overcome this challenge. The hike was very symbolic of their upcoming five years at QHS. At times it will seem like an uphill battle, and along the way they will get some help from friends, family and staff. When they do make it to the top (graduation day) they will see it is a beautiful view from the top!
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