With 2011 being the centennial for Parks Canada, Environment Minster Peter Kent, with the help of Brewster Travel Canada, has rolled out a new contest centred around Canadian youth, entitled “Canada’s Coolest School Trip” with a grand prize of a four-day visit to Banff. 

“Throughout Parks Canada’s centennial year, we have been working hard to introduce new, engaging initiatives that will help build deeper connections between young Canadians and our natural and historic heritage,” Kent said in a statement.

All a class needs to do is make a video that re-creates a significant moment in Canadian history that relates to national parks, marine conservation or a historic site that is associated with Parks Canada and upload it to the My Parks Pass website (www.myparkspass.ca) by Jan. 8, 2012. The 10 videos with the most votes online will then be shown to a panel of judges with the winning video to be announced in February.

Carolyn Duchoslav, an external relations manager with Parks Canada, explained that the contest will “encourage teachers and students to learn more about Canada’s national parks and historic sites and to tell a video story about a place that interests them.” 

When asked why Brewster Canada wanted to get involved with the contest, president Michael Hannan explained that “there is no better way for students to learn about the vital role that Canada’s national park system plays in our country, than by showcasing it first-hand through an impactful travel experience.” 

The “Coolest School Trip” contest is open to any Grade 8 class in the country with a major grand prize for the winning class of up to 30 students and 10 chaperones. The “grand prize” includes a four day/three night, all-expense-paid trip to Banff National Park, including return airfare to and from Calgary on Air Canada to “experience the ultimate Canadian Rockies’ adventure,” as hyped up in the contest’s press release.

Brewster Canada’s vice-president of hotels and attractions, Dave McKenna, said one of the biggest challenges was “how to get the winning class out to Banff, on a national scale.” He continued by saying “that’s when Banff Lake Louise Tourism talked to Air Canada and got them on board.” 

The winners will experience a trip to the top of Sulphur Mountain on the Banff Gondola, storytelling while cruising on Banff Lake and sightseeing some of the most beautiful places in the park. To finish the trip off, the winning class also gets an overnight stay at the Glacier View Inn overlooking the Columbia Icefield where the students will then get to venture onto the Athabasca Glacier on one of Brewster’s Ice Explorers.

With Brewster Canada being the “official travel tour guide” for the winning Grade 8 class, McKenna said the company is “proud and excited to deliver what will surely be an impactful travel experience.” He added that Brewster wants to promote “the attractiveness of the national parks for the people who don’t get to see the parks, or don’t know much about them.”

The idea for the contest came about after “Parks Canada discovered that the majority of kids in Canada live a pretty urban lifestyle and don’t get outside enough to have a strong connections with nature,” explained Duchoslav. She added that Parks hopes the contest will help students develop a “lifelong connection with nature that will influence the rest of their lives and decisions they might make as future leaders.” 

For more information on the My Parks Pass or “Canada’s Coolest School Trip” visit www.myparkspass.ca or www.monpasseportparcs.com.