From a very young age, Jaxon Forster has drawn notice in the Pembina Valley with his memorable community engagements.
At just 12 years old, he organized a successful lemonade stand — complete with a dunk tank — for Katie Cares, and more recently, he was a part of Morden Collegiate’s Junior Achievement Program with a group that formulated an award-winning business called Bloom N' Bond.
This September, after a lively childhood in the Pembina Valley, Forster is beginning his biggest project yet: university.
A fitting major
For Forster’s mother, Jeanette Bergman, the transition is bittersweet — a feeling with which other Pembina Valley parents of children leaving for post-secondary education at this time of year can likely empathize.
“We are feeling excitement for him," she said. "Lots of [the experience] has been focussed on him and his new ventures, [but] we're a little bit sad because he's not there busting in the doors to say, ‘Hello,’ or, ‘I'm home,’ or any of that kind of stuff. Our whole family [is] missing him, but also cheering him on.”
For Bergman, despite a bit of sadness, the path Forster has chosen also adds to her joy for her son.
She isn’t surprised that he chose to study at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business.
“It’s all kind of in line with the lemonade stands and then the Junior Achievement Program,” she said. “It’s more of him, I guess, leaving the nest and going instead of us sending him, because he knew that that’s where he wanted to be.”
Preparing for the change
Throughout the process of preparing for the transition, Bergman said that the family shared in the typical preparations that many families experience, including setting up Forster’s new living space, learning how to use a city bus, meal planning, and other skills a young person requires to thrive in a new city.
While it might be a common rite of passage, the goodbye at the end, which signifies much more than a simple move for most families, is never easy.
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It was no exception for Bergman and her family.
“When we drove him in, we spent some time [at the condominium] and had our emotional breakdown as a family of three,” she said.
Fortunately, because Forster has friends living across the street whom he could visit to lessen the blow of the parting, it wasn’t as difficult as it could have been.
Even so, Bergman said the drive home with her husband, Jeff, was a quiet one.
Who knows what the future brings
Although Bergman isn’t sure what’s in store for her son’s future, she is confident that his abounding curiosity and thoughtfulness will result in positive things.
“He fills the room, so I miss that, but I also know he's got to spread his wings and fly, and that's where he's going to thrive,” she said.
For other parents in a similar position, she also has some advice.
“Just enjoy the experience,” she said. “Live in the moment and encourage your kids to do what they want to do.”
In the end, although it’s a significant transition, Forster will be back on weekends, and Bergman expects he’ll arrive with a bag of laundry — just as many university students do.
With files from Ty Hildebrand