In the last 2 weeks of July, Kirsty and her two French Immersion-loving daughters set off to meet with chapter reps across BC. In total she visited with 29 chapter reps in 14 communities. She started in Sooke for lunch and a discussion about how to to recruit new volunteers then coffee in Victoria where she met a French Immersion teacher looking to re-open their chapter.
Day two in Parksville began with a nice lunch with chapter reps at one of the gorgeous resorts in their area discussing the common issue of attrition at middle schools. She then headed to Campbell River to discuss (among other things) chapter visibility and promotional materials. The day ended in Comox with a delicious BBQ and many suggestions about ways for the branch to support capacity-building for our many chapters. Off to Port Hardy for the night before catching the ferry back to the mainland.
Chapter reps in Prince Rupert had questions about partnering with business, gaming grants and other sources of chapter revenue, and what other chapters are doing to raise money. (If your chapter has a great money generating idea, we encourage you to share it with outreach@cpf.bc.ca to be passed on to other chapters!). In Terrace, Kirsty got a tour of the local library where they are putting up a cool 3-D French cafe mural to house their French book collection and they also have a French summer reading club! (Prizes donated by CPF Terrace).
In Vanderhoof (after a brief layover in Smithers, where they saw a bear much to the excitement of the girls......ok.....and Kirsty who was driving and woke them up screaming LOOK, A BEAR!!) the girls ran in the spray park while Kirsty chatted with a local parent who wants to get a chapter re-established and start advocating for their program to extend through grade 12, where it currently ends in grade 7. Over coffee in Prince George, plans were made to establish a new chapter with a mom who recently moved from Maple Ridge and was surprised at a PAC meeting to find that there is no chapter in PG.
A picnic lunch at a Quesnel park brought up the common issue of a shortage of qualified teachers that is seen across BC and was idntified in our 35 years strong roadmap as a priority area for improvement. In 100 Mile House, over coffee Kirsty was de-briefed on their plans to develop a French Immersion youth mentorship program to help deal with highschool FI attrition. She then headed to Kamloops where she met with chapter reps and the CPF BC/Yukon Board Director Patti Holm at the spray park where the chapter president's son came wearing his CPF t-shirt!
The next morning over coffee, Salmon Arm president spoke of socio-cultural ideas, such as musical performances and outdoor activites. The journey ended that afternoon in Revelstoke where Kirsty was updated on all that has happened since her last visit there in April to meet with the school board about implementing French Immersion in their community.
Thanks to all the chapters who organized meetings along the way. It was a pleasure meeting those chapter reps that I hadn't already met and getting to see some familiar faces from Ottawa and the regional conferences. Merci!