Kitchener high school student wins provincial education award
Posted Mar 15, 2019 08:46:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A student at Eastwood Collegiate in Kitchener has won the highest honour from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF/FEESO).
Peyton Wither has been presented with a Student Achievement Award.
She won the French intermediate, grades 9-10 category in the prose or poetry division for her entry entitled, “Je suis la Terre”.
“She was assisted not only by her English teacher, but was also inspired by her Science teacher. The poem is about climate change and how some people think that it doesn't affect them directly. Her poem cautions us to take care of our Mother Earth because we are nothing without her,” OSSTF/FEESO President Harvey Bischof, said in a release.
Wither was also awarded with a cash prize of $1,000.
The awards are named after Marion Drysdale, a former general secretary of OSSTF/FEESO, who died of cancer in 1983.
Here is a copy of the poem:
Je suis la terre.
L’eau et terrain.
Roche et minéraux.
Je te donne, je te donne et je te donne.
Tu prends, tu prends et tu prends de moi.
Je suis ta maison, tout ce que tu as.
Tu ne me remercies pas. En retour, tu me détruis.
Mes forêts ombrophiles luxuriantes.
Mes riches récifs de corail.
Mes régions polaires.
Tu me baignes en plastique et remplis mon air
pur avec des chimiques sales.
Je te donne tout ce dont tu as besoin, même des
merveilles naturelles.
Des montagnes magnifiques.
Des océans vastes.
Des animaux extraordinaires.
Mais ce n’est jamais assez.
Tu ne me possèdes pas.
La prochaine fois que tu me détruis pour ta
propre convenance.
Je ne vais pas t’aider.
Mais tu n’es rien sans moi, n’est-ce pas?
