Strathmore students recognized for remembrance-themed creative works

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Several Strathmore students were recognized by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 10 for their creative works submitted to the annual remembrance contest. 

A ceremony was hosted Feb. 14 at the legion building, with family and interested public invited to join and celebrate the successful entries. 

“(It is) a national program that invites children to tell us what they think remembrance means, and so through their poems, posters and essays, and for high school students, two-minute videos if they want,” said Jennifer Fransen, chair of communications and community outreach for the legion. “The idea is we want kids to remember to understand that the legion does not promote war, that we promote peace and that is why we have soldiers and sailors. I get veterans to actually judge … and they have a tough job.”

Entries that are awarded through the contest receive monetary prizes in addition to their certificates. 

Those that placed first in each respective category had their submissions move on to a similar competition at the district level. From there, should entries continue to be victorious, they may be allowed to move on to provincials, then be judged nationally.

“We go out of our way to educate these kids about remembrance. We go into the schools, we do this – we invite them here as often as we can because we want them to understand that democracy is hard earned. It does not just happen and they need to be aware because they are the future,” said Fransen.

Due to the teachers’ strike which took place in the fall of 2025, the contest experienced significant delays. The awards ceremony typically takes place in January following judging in December. 

Similarly, due to kids not being in schools for a significant portion of the educational year, the contest received fewer submissions than normal. 

“I made sure that it got out to all the schools and I was grateful that we got this many because we were afraid we wouldn’t get any because we knew that the teachers were a month behind,” said Fransen. 

“We had stacks of things coming from Holy Cross this year, and Westmount did a great job, but we understand that their curriculum is critical and so we are grateful when we fit in and if they can’t, we understand that too.”

Fransen noted this year’s contest received 45 submissions – roughly half of what is typically seen.

Next year, the legion is aiming to add the No Stone Left Alone program to its itinerary, speaking to high school students about researching local veterans who now lay in the local Field of Honour. 

“Our hope is to learn about veterans who come out of this area. We know that during World War I and World War II, some of the largest numbers of veterans came from this community,” said Fransen. “It’s a national program whereby you take school kids and they go out to the Field of Honour, you talk to them about what it means and then we ask the students to place poppies on the graves so that they make the connection (that) there is a story behind that grave and we need to remember what that person did for us.”