Hundreds of students at École secondaire Sieur-de-Coulonge spent Friday afternoon completing the high school’s first Terry Fox Run since the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the tradition.
Over 200 of the school’s 350 students and 90 per cent of the school’s staff participated in the eight-kilometre walk that brought them, by way of the infamous red covered bridge, on a journey from the high school through both Mansfield and Fort Coulonge municipalities.
The renaissance of the tradition is thanks to the school’s new activities coordinator, Jeremy Labine, who himself participated in the fundraiser walk at the school when he was a student there back in the day.
“I thought everybody knew who Terry Fox was, and I noticed people didn’t actually have that reconnaissance of that icon, so I had to do something about it and decide to bring the walk back,” Labine said.
He said the event raised $360 by selling 360 cookies baked by teacher Christine Hillier and her secondary 4 cooking class.
All 360 cookies were purchased by Pontiac MNA André Fortin who was awaiting the students at the cookie stop to cheer them on.
Labine said Fortin wanted to be sure every student could have a cookie for free during their walk.
Labine was happy with the event’s success, and assured this year’s walk would only be the first in what will become a school tradition.
“It’s going to be something that’s going to come back every year.”
