doctor the Rotary Trail, healing a multi-use trail that, internist when completed, will extend from 5th Street in Downtown Courtenay all the way to 26th Street. Fundraising is underway for the third phase, with help from Rotary members Robert Buckley, Rod Hunter, Dave White, Ron Perrin and Art Meyers. The Courtenay Rotary Club’s annual Main Event Online Auction runs from April1-30.” src=”http://www.infocusmagazine.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Rotary_web-602×401.jpg” width=”602″ height=”401″ /> The Courtenay Rotary Club is in the third year of their current project, the Rotary Trail, a multi-use trail that, when completed, will extend from 5th Street in Downtown Courtenay all the way to 26th Street. Fundraising is underway for the third phase, with help from Rotary members Robert Buckley, Rod Hunter, Dave White, Ron Perrin and Art Meyers. The Courtenay Rotary Club’s annual Main Event Online Auction runs from April 1-30.
If you’ve ever walked or cycled on a dedicated multi-use trail before, then you know there is something special about pathways that are separated from the streets. It is so relaxing to cycle or walk along a pathway without the annoyance of cars whipping by at high speeds. Instead of traffic, you hear birds, voices, and the sound of your own footsteps. Often viewed as linear parks, multi-use trails are quiet and peaceful places where people can visit while they walk along or sit on a bench, kids can explore, and dogs can sniff to their heart’s content.
The Rotary Trail is the Courtenay Rotary Club’s current project. Now on its third and final year of development, the Rotary Trail is a hard-packed multi-use trail that is comfortable for wheelchairs, wide enough to be shared by cyclists, and enormously popular with walkers. The trail currently stretches from 5th Street to 17th Street, right through the heart of Courtenay, and travels alongside or near to the existing railway line. It is a key route for commuters and an important connection between neighborhoods, schools and businesses.
The Courtenay Rotary Club has a rich history here in the Comox Valley. Since 1936 the Courtenay Rotary has been working to improve the quality of life for those who choose to call our valley home. Besides the Rotary Trail, the most recent project of the Courtenay Rotary was the Comox Valley Hospice Project. Before that the club spearheaded and built the Simms Park Millennium Pavilion. Even Simms Park itself owes its existence to the Rotary Club, since the Courtenay Rotary Club, from 1983 to 1989, raised funds to purchase the Simms property to preserve it as a public park space.
These days Courtenay Rotary likes to focus on major projects that take three years to accomplish. After they completed their last three year project—raising $150,000 to fund the construction of a new residential hospice—the club knew that a new venture was needed, but they didn’t have anything specific in mind. So they enlisted the help of the citizens of the Valley by putting out a questionnaire asking what the respondents would like to see as the Rotary’s next project.
Coincidentally, right around this time the Courtenay Rotary Club received a call from a group called the Island Corridor Foundation, a non-profit organization working to preserve the E&N corridor. In addition to working to reinstate the actual train service, the Island Corridor Foundation also promotes and facilitates the “Rail with Trail” system—a continuous multi-use trail that may someday run alongside the entire length of railway bed from Victoria to Courtenay.
In 2011, with the support of the community, the City of Courtenay, and the help of the Island Corridor Foundation, the Courtenay Rotary Club began the three-year process of building a trail from 5th Street to 26th Street. The first year the trail was constructed from 5th to Cumberland Road. The second year the trail was extended as far as 17th. This year, the Rotary Trail will be extended to 26th.
Though most of the work of building the trail was done by workers employed by the City of Courtenay, the Rotarians rolled up their sleeves to help out where they could.
Though the trail runs alongside the railway, it will still be safe even after the trains recommence travel between Victoria and Courtenay. That’s because there is a gap between the actual railway and the walkway, and fencing will eventually be constructed to provide additional safety.
The Courtenay Rotary Club is now on its third and final year of the Rotary Trail Project. However, they can only complete the trail if they are able to raise the necessary funds. Every year for the past five years the Rotary Club has conducted an online auction as its main fundraising event.
The online auction has caught on and is now a popular and user-friendly way to raise money. Unlike a gala, you don’t have to get dressed up to help the Courtenay Rotary. Instead you can help from the comfort of your home—wearing your pyjamas instead of a ball gown or a tux.
This year the Courtenay Rotary’s Main Event Online Auction, which takes place from April 1-30, is more exciting than ever. That’s because there is something very big being offered up for bid this year—literally.
Though the townhouse is valued at $259,900, the bidding will start at $229,900. The difference between the reserved bid and the winning bid will determine the amount of money raised for the Courtenay Rotary Club. The money will be used to fund the trail as well as other community services provided by the Club.
In addition to the townhouse, there will be many other goods and services offered up for bid. Through the generous gifts from local businesses and sponsors, this year’s item list includes something for everyone. There are restaurant gift certificates, spa services, advertising specials, automotive services and dental services. There are also electronics up for bid, such as a 23-inch monitor and a mini camcorder. There’s even a trip to Las Vegas up for bid, as well as Canucks tickets and a Mount Washington 6IXPAK.
All of the items can be viewed online, so it’s easy for people to take a look and decide if they’re interested in something. Bidding is easy too, and after you place a bid, you can go online at any time to view your current bidding status.
“The people of the Comox Valley have put their trust in the Rotary for many years,” Havers notes. And with your support, the Courtenay Rotary Club hopes to continue serving the citizens of the Comox Valley for years to come.
from left, Amy Morro, Marianna Sipione, Kaelan Johnson, Charlotte Ross and Destanee Harrison are ready for the next chapter in their lives. ” src=”http://www.infocusmagazine.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/grads_web-602×401.jpg” width=”602″ height=”401″ /> Choosing their destiny: local grads, from left, Amy Morro, Marianna Sipione, Kaelan Johnson, Charlotte Ross and Destanee Harrison are ready for the next chapter in their lives.
How many of you remember the spring of your Grade 12 year, when the sunshiny days of April and May gave you a good idea of what would be coming in June? There’s a good chance those three months were both the longest and fastest of your life, because you were counting down the days to your first major accomplishment in life—your high school graduation.
Well, it’s spring again, and plans are already in place to make this year’s graduation events something to remember in the lives of Valley students.
Nervousness is not the first character quality that comes to mind when speaking to this young woman, who describes herself as take-charge kind of person. Heck, Ross will tell you it was her own dissatisfaction with the lack of planning and a free period that convinced her to step up and volunteer her time to help organize her school’s grad ceremonies.
There is now a committee of 20 students helping out with the event, and Ross recently handed chairing duties over to fellow grad Rae Munro. Munro has the big responsibility of implementing all of the plans Ross helped make, along with managing her own heavy school load. It’s not a job that even Ross envies.
The entire celebration will be on Mount Washington, where students will have use of Raven Lodge until the wee hours of the morning. There will be a DJ and dancing, a photo booth, Bounce-a-Rama, dance revolution machine and six casino tables. Each student will get play money when they arrive, and then will be able to use any earnings to bid on more than 100 auction items. Oh, and let’s not forget the tarot card and palm reading, or the fireworks.
Each of the Valley high schools have similar events planned for their graduates. Mark Isfeld will start their celebration with a classic car parade before also heading up Mount Washington, while Highland Secondary will be holding their banquet and dance with entertainment in the Native Sons Hall.
“It’s one big party and we’re focused on having fun,” says Ross, summing up what many grads think of their graduation ceremonies. But then Ross hits on more of the meaning of the event.
For Valley teachers and administrators, part of getting students ready for life outside of high school means making the grad ceremonies the culmination of a year of celebration and transition. It’s also an opportunity to help their young adults make their first good adult decisions.
“They really look forward to it,” says Lyneita Swanson, principal at Highland Secondary, of her grad students. “The traditions and rituals and that kind of thing. I think they look forward to dressing up, spending their last few hours together. It is their last school function together.
For that reason, each activity and event for the Grade 12 tries to emphasize the significance of the upcoming graduation. Take Highland for example—its grads choose a legacy project at the beginning of each year that provides a year of community service.
This year’s legacy project has been titled “13 Projects to Inspire” and students have organized a clothing drive for YANA, a croquet fundraiser tournament, and volunteered with the local soup kitchen.
“They start recognizing the needs of their community and giving back before they move on,” says Sawnson.
The students and staff at Mark Isfeld mark the Grade 12 year much the same way. Events and activities from September to June emphasize good decision-making and responsibility in choices.
Fundraising is a big part of the year for all Valley grads. On the practical side of things, fundraising helps cover the significant costs of the graduation ceremonies. It’s not unusual to see fees of more than $100 to participate in the ceremony, and that is a substantial sum of money to a young person and their families. However, fundraising also helps students get involved in the community, reaching out to potential sponsors, making connections with businesses and community groups and generally doing the sort of things that make for a strong and healthy community that they will be called on to lead. Moreoever, it gives community businesses and organizations a chance to give back.
Another of the messages that comes across loud and clear at each of the Valley high schools is that students don’t need alcohol in order to celebrate their achievements. Graduation ceremonies in the Comox Valley are dry, and liquor is prohibited.
“It drives home the message that important events in your life don’t have to be celebrated by getting drunk,” says Taylor.
Of course it hasn’t always been that way.
It was those losses that started the push for dry grads in the late 1980s, and the ICBC Road Sense campaigns that many of adults remember from our own graduation days.
Today you’d be hard pressed to find a BC school that doesn’t offer an-alcohol free celebration.
Taylor has however, been in a school district that did not offer a dry grad option. Instead, students went to the rodeo grounds following the formal ceremonies and proceeded to drink. The event often involved more than just that year’s graduates, and the only gesture toward security was to have adults posted at the entrances taking keys away from young drivers. There was no school presence, and the event almost always saw young people carted away in an ambulance due to over-drinking or even injury. It was not something Taylor or any of the teaching staff felt good about. The problem was a community attitude that said if you’re graduating or celebrating a big event you must get drunk.
Taylor contrasts this with parents and students in the Comox Valley who are just fine with dry grad.
And that means high school graduation in the Comox Valley is free to be what it’s intended to be—a celebration of student accomplishment, and the first major event in their adult lives.
In fact, a Highland tradition is the minuet, a social dance that originated in 17th century France, and involves controlled, ceremonious and graceful movement. It’s a challenge for students to learn the steps, and a huge accomplishment when they pull the whole thing off.
Ross will eventually be one of those students moving on. She has plans to start part-time study for an Associate of Science degree at North Island College in September. She’ll also be working in order to travel next year. Eventually she wants to complete an Education degree at the University of Victoria and teach in foreign countries.
“I’ve got plans, big plans!” she says with a laugh and a bit of embarrassment at the seeming audacity of her dreams. But there is little doubt that she—and her fellow 2013 graduates—can, and will, make it happen.