Sydnee’s reflections

“The sun’s gonna rise tomorrow”

Saving Juno Beach

What does service mean? When thinking about the Canadian soldiers who fought during WWII, they left their friends, their family, they left everything. They risked everything for their country’s freedom. This project allowed us to commemorate and honour their service. Through learning what happened during the war, completing an act of service ourselves, and writing and essay to share our thoughts I recognized the true importance of service.

In order to honour and remember we have to know what happened. During this project our class learned about the events during WW2. To start this project off we learned about Canada’s sacrifice and ultimate victory at Juno beach. This day would be one of significant importance where many risked their lives and ultimately died. In 2022 a proposal for a condo development located on juno beach, was officailly brought forward. With many protests by not only French but Canadian people, the development was not built. This project is our way to honour, educate, and remember the soldiers who risked everything for us to be free.

During this project we had to complete an act of service. This act of service could be anything and I chose to do a shoreline cleanup. Once we completed act service we collected $10 from our patron, this money would be put towards a Canadian flag that would fly on the shores of Juno beach. I loved the idea of doing a shoreline cleanup because in a way I felt connected to the soldiers who fought. Although we don’t share the same ocean, the water can connect us all. Protecting our ocean here and ensuring it stays clean, we can honour the soldiers that fought in their waters. This project truly taught me the importance of service. While on my shoreline cleanup I remembered a clip from the movie Saving Private Ryan. It was the battle scene when the Canadian soldiers landed on Juno beach and began their attack on the Germans. Thousand of soldiers were injured. Thousands of lives were lost. Thousands of families at home heartbroken. Those soldiers risked everything and gave up everything for the hope to win the war and give us freedom. We must thank and honour the soldiers that fought for us.

The last part of this project was combining all the information I gathered to create an essay. I analyzed sourced to collect research about my topic. I chose to focus on the holocaust and how that event changed peoples perspectives surrounding human rights. This topic was horrific to learn about due to all the tragedies that occurred during the holocaust. Although difficult, I felt it was important to make my essay about the holocaust. Being part jewish myself and having family who are, this topic always brings heavy emotions. Educating myself and learning the severity of the event I mourn the lives that were lost.

While writing my essay I was challenged with tying the holocaust in with Canadian identity. It took many revisions and reconsiderations but ultimately I was left with an essay I was proud of. This essay taught me the importance of small details and ensuring everything is meticulously planed out. I gained experience with formal essay writing including MLA formatting. I practiced my research skills while finding documents that were reliable and accurate. I created an essay that acknowledged the horrors of the Holocaust while also recognizing the needed change in human rights.

Read my essay here:

Essay

Once our essay was done all the hard work was complete. All that was left was to put my essay into a zine format. A zine (pronounced zeen) is a collection of many texts with the addition of images, or visually enhancing elements. Our zines would be a collection of our essays and we would add images and different size text to enhance our essays. Everyone’s new and improved essay was added into the zine and and sent to the Juno beach centre in France.

Read my zine below:

Zine

Syddy Giddy out!

sydneeg • December 20, 2024


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