UPEI students bring attention to Remembrance Day through videos

Student-athletes from UPEI and an Islander serving as a guide at the Beaumont-Hamel memorial in France are featured in new videos from Veterans Affairs Canada.

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The social media team at Veterans Affairs hope the videos will grow in popularity and become a new way of engaging Canadian youth in the theme of remembrance.

To see them on camera, shining, is special. UPEI athletics director Chris Huggan

"We wanted to get people involved by making videos telling us what remembrance means to them," explained Jennifer Ellis, a social media officer with Veterans Affairs Canada based in Charlottetown.

"Because not everybody would have somebody that they would be remembering, may not have someone that has served but they may know about remembrance."

The group approachedthe UPEI athletics department with the idea.

"They are very active in the community and they like to get involved with different initiatives," said Sarah Sullivan, a UPEI alumni and part of the social media team.

UPEI director of athletics Chris Huggan jumped at the opportunity.

"It was heartfelt, they wanted to be there," he said. "It wasn't like I was dragging 20 student-athletes away, they genuinely wanted to be there and share their stories so I was very proud."

Role models

In mid-October, Chief Warrant Officer Shawn Patterson and a camera crew from Veterans Affairs visited the UPEI campus. Patterson is the Canadian Armed Forces liaison officer for Veterans Affairs in Charlottetown. He was in the military for 33 years, serving in Cambodia, Afghanistan and Europe.

Huggan was impressed with the way the student-athletes responded to the presentation.

"It was silent, they were attentive and reflective," said Huggan. "You could see what was being said was relevant and important."

Then the students were invited to talk on camera about what Remembrance Day means to them.

"The idea being if we start to share the importance of Remembrance Day and if they see UPEI Panthers, student-athletes, role models in our community, sharing how important this day is to them, that perhaps it could be something that would be a challenge to other people to share their stories about what Remembrance Day means to them," said Huggan.

"To see them on camera, shining, is special."

The video has had more than 26,000 views since it was posted Nov. 1.

The team from Veterans Affairs Canada hopes this video will become a template for other universities across the country, as well as for high schools and even elementary schools.

Remembrance Day in France

A student from Prince Edward Island helped to create another video that is being shared by Veterans Affairs Canada.

Chloe McCloskey is one of 15 students working for Veterans Affairs as guides at the the Canadian National Vimy Ridge Memorial and the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial in France for four and a half months.

"This experience has been life-changing," said McCloskey, who has been in France for three-and-a-half months, while still studying part time at UPEI.

McCloskey has always attended the Remembrance Day ceremony with her family, including her mother who works at Veterans Affairs, and who inspired McCloskey's love of history. But she says being at Beaumont-Hamel on Nov. 11 is going to be a memory of a lifetime.

"Where the First World War took place and such tragedy unfolded is going to be very, very moving," said McCloskey.

"Seeing the trenches, the shell holes, and No Man's Land on a day to day basis, which is a living testimony to the sacrifices of these soldiers, really puts the atmosphere of the First World War into reality."

McCloskey hopes the video she and the other guides created will help other young people to understand the importance of remembering Canada's veterans.

"I wanted to be able to pass that message on to not only people that are my age, but also to younger students so that they can really see what Remembrance Day is," she said.

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