Five young Jasperites are expecting a call from David Suzuki after giving a call to Prime Minister Stephen Harper earlier this month.

The Grade 9 Écoles Desrochers students were one of five winning submissions that won a phone call from the man himself.

“I’m really, really excited that we won, and it’s really thrilling because there were only five people that were chosen in all of Canada,” said Sabrina Charlebois, who was dressed as a monarch butterfly to call Harper.

The other four girls also dressed as animals for the call - Ayla Palzat as a peary caribou, Bernice Addison as polar bear, Ashley Hayes, as a honey bee, and Maddy McKensie as an american pika.

Panos Grames, outreach co-ordinator for the public engagement team, said their entry was an example of the positivity and creativity that people used to get their message across to Harper.

“One of the great surprises for me was how Canadian the calls were, everybody was polite, well informed and positive... We were impressed by the creativity as well. The Écoles Desrochers students dressed up like the animals and I think there was some level of thinking going on... how can we do it in a way that is engaging for people?”

All that’s left now is for the students to work out what they’re going to talk to Suzuki about when they get him on the phone.

“I look up to him a lot and he influences lots of people in a good way... I’m thinking of stuff to say to him, how he got his inspiration, how he got to take action,” said Addison.

“They call him the environmental guru, I’m really excited but I have no idea what to ask him,” said McKensie, adding “we won’t want to waste his time so we should decide what questions to ask first.”

The Jasperites received a total of 169 votes for their submission, which was less than 20 votes behind the winning class, Preeceville School Environment 30 Class.

According to Grames, the competition was a way to get a people involved in a public discussion about the Copenhagen conference. “The idea was just to bring some awareness that there was this UN Climate Summit happening in Copenhagen and also that Canadians have a say in that, just average Canadians, it’s not just something that’s happening in a foreign land that our leaders can just say what they want.”