Murray Kissick knows that some things can't be taught in the classroom and that field trips can help enrich students' understanding of a subject.
For 19 R.D. Parker Collegiate students, the Victory in Europe tour will be lifelong memory that will give them an idea of the scale of death and destruction that soldiers faced in World War I and World War II.
"I can't teach you the horror of that," said Kissick, but an up-close look at the cemeteries filled with those who lost their lives will be an eye-opener. "That will be the first awakening moment."
In the planning stages for over a year, the Victory in Europe tour is a two-week field trip from April 26 to May 9 that will take students to the sites of some of Canada's military triumphs and tragedies - including Juno Beach, where Canadian troops landed for the 1944 D-Day assault on Normandy, as well as Vimy Ridge, Ypres and Passchendaele.
"We'll be able to tour some of the tunnels," said Kissick, speaking of Vimy Ridge, a defining moment in Canadian military history, just commemorated April 9-12, the 93rd anniversary of the battle.
They'll also attend ceremonies commemorating the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945, a campaign that cost 7,000 Canadian soldiers their lives. These will include one at Holten Ceremony, with 8,000 people - including the Dutch royal family - in attendance, where one of the RDPC students will take part in the ceremonies.
"One of our students, Kayla Campbell, has been asked to recite the Act of Commitment," said Kissick.
They'll also be at Appeldoorn, participating in a parade while carrying a City of Thompson flag surrounded by the names of the two soldiers - alive or dead - that each student represents.
At Wanengingen, the RDPC group will be one of 200 schools and 2,500 students from Canada on separate tours that will be represented, part of a crowd of 120,000 that will also include the Dutch royals and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other officials.
The trip will also hold special significance for Kissick and Katie Buchanan, another teacher who will be accompanying the students. Buchanan's grandfather was a veteran of Vimy Ridge who survived WWI, while Kissick's grandfather, who also lived to see the end of the Great War, as it was known, served in some of the areas they'll be visiting. The teachers also had family members who served in WWII.
"We have relatives who are buried in Holland," Kissick said.
The tour will also include more typical tourist activities - a visit to the Eiffel Tower and a Seine River cruise in Paris.
It wasn't cheap for those who are going along - about $3,200 per student to cover flights, hotels and two meals a day. Fundraising activities were held to help pay for some extras - including a supper in the fall and a garage sale in February.
"It's difficult to find new and unique ways of raising money," said Kissick, noting the tour had a lot of local supporters, many of whom had friends or family who'd been in or affected by the two wars.
But in the end, Kissick thinks it will be worth it, as students will come back changed and enriched by cultural sharing.
"Once we get to Holland and see the people who are thanking us ... I don't think they're ready for the overwhelming gratitude people will show," said Kissick, who's already witnessed the effect that first-hand accounts can have on students when Sya Gregovski, who lived in Europe at the time of liberation, came to his classroom and talked to the students about her experiences. "It was definitely quiet in my classroom and a lot of people had tears in their eyes."
Now, as the last Canadian veteran of WWI has recently died, it's important that students have the opportunity to remember and realize the significance of Canadian soldiers' contributions.
"This is a historical event," said Kissick. "It's going to be a pretty big deal."
