Tessa Genereaux ran 14 kilometres from Ahtahkakoop First Nation to the Canwood Public School in honour of all the veteran who served. (Facebook/Canwood Public School)

By Ian Gustafson

Lest We Forget

Student in Canwood runs 14 kilometres through harsh conditions in honour of veterans

Nov 18, 2021 | 5:00 PM

A student of Canwood Public School went to extreme lengths for a school project to commemorate Remembrance Day.

Tessa Genereaux, a Grade 12 student decided on Nov. 11 to run from her home on the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation to the school, which is around 14 kilometres and took over two hours. However, Genereaux had anything but ideal running weather as Remembrance Day was also the seasons first snowfall.

“It was definitely a challenge,” she told paNOW. “It was hard. There were times where I wanted to give up, but I just pushed myself to wanting to make that finish and especially [since] it was snowing, and it was cold, but I just pushed through and finished the run.”

The long trek was her idea for her project they had to do in English class where they had to create or do something to commemorate Remembrance Day. While other students created posters or made poppy’s, Genereaux took on the harsh elements of a Northern Saskatchewan winter and is proud of herself for doing so.

She did not prepare for the run nor had she ever ran 14 kilometres but she is an avid athlete who plays soccer.

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While she was running, she thought about all the people who died serving in past wars and running in the harsh conditions made her appreciate their sacrifice even more.

“It was for all the people that served in war,” she said.

Teacher at Canwood Public School Vanessa Balicki said a week before Remembrance Day students were given the assignment to do a representation about Remembrance Day. In English class students had the option to do something visual but some, such as Genereaux, got creative.

“Phenomenal. I am so proud of how she took this assignment and did her own spin on it like literally ran with it,” Balicki said. “And she got to choose how she wanted to honour our veterans and she did fantastic.”

This is a project she has done in her class for some time, but this is the first time she has had a student go through severe elements and run.

“We knew the storm was coming so I did go to her the day before and I said, you know what, if you don’t feel comfortable running on the highway and roads in the first snowfall for Saskatchewan, I said we can make this work and you can run in the gym,” he said. “And so, she woke up that morning and she decided she was going to take on the harsh weather conditions and do this run which I thought was really phenomenal.”

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12