The end of February saw the wrap up for another edition of the Great Prairie Race, the annual activity and connection event for young and old, hosted by Northern Lights Movement for Kids.
The Great Prairie Race was inspired by former Humboldt Bronco Jacob Leicht as a way to activate both the body and the spirit of connection. Walking, running, skiing, skating, and generally moving a distance of 111 km during the month, as a reflection of Jacob’s hockey number 11, is the goal for individuals.
The program has always had a component of connecting schools and students with each other as well. It’s a chance for students to learn about youth from other parts of the prairies, and about different cultures, particularly about Indigenous knowledge.
This year’s activities were the most successful ever, says Race founder Celeste Leray-Leicht.
We had a whopping 2,600 plus students registered from across the prairie provinces,” said Leray-Leicht enthusiastically. “We had an entire school division from Alberta that registered, and that was a great addition.”
The Clearview School Division from Central Alberta, serving Stettler and area, bolstered the numbers, so much so that the Great Prairie Race tabulated its highest number of collected kilometres ever – 36,411 kilometres in total. It also represents the highest number of participants.
Another first ever feature of this year’s Race was the first ever participation by Hutterite schools and students from the Clearview Division.
“There were two Hutterite colonies included. They couldn’t participate in the virtual meet, but they did participate in the race, and then they gathered information to share through their teacher about their communities. That gleaned a lot of interest from my students.”
Student feedback showed how interesting the shared information was and how wonderful it was for participants to learn about a group with such different cultural and social traditions.
There are other components that help students build knowledge about others’ communities and about their own as well. During the project, teachers have their students gather facts and data about their own communities to share, and one local community took an illuminating approach to its focus.
“One of the questions is who are some notable people that come from your community that help make it special,” Leray-Leicht explains. “Often, it’s about celebrities who are athletes, authors, songwriters, which is wonderful to hear about so many people from the prairies. But one particular community, St. Brieux, had students share about their volunteerism, and how that is what really drives the success of their community.”
Leray-Leicht said that was a new twist on the question and one that shows an immense pride in the accomplishments of the group of citizens over a single individual.
Now that the race is wrapped up for the year, Celeste says she is making a concerted effort to connect schools and students who have requested pen pals through the program.