When Katrina Hansen’s grandmother got sick last summer, the Three Hills, Alta., teenager visited her often in the local hospital.
“It was kind of boring inside when I went to visit, so I took her outside. It was beautiful outside.”
So when Katrina’s mother urged her to enter a national contest for 4-H members sponsored by the Farm Credit Corp., Hansen had an idea for a proposal to improve her community.
She suggested the hospital create a garden that could be enjoyed by patients and their visitors. It was one of 16 proposals that won scholarships from the FCC.
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This year the hospital has followed up her idea by making a flowerbed and marking a spot where people can plant flowers in memory of relatives who were patients.
Hansen is entering Grade 12 this fall and plans to use her $1,000 scholarship for tuition in an interior design course at a Calgary college.
Another of the nine prairie contest winners is Tracy Epp of Boissevain, Man. Her idea is to require high school students to take a course on agriculture to dispel common misconceptions and entice some to consider a farming career.
Epp said there are lots of farm kids in her school, but none are going to stay on the farm because “it’s hard.” Epp is planning to return to the country after studying veterinary medicine.
She said her younger brother is interested in farming.
Other winning ideas were Steve Millar’s drop-in centre for people of all ages in the town of Cadillac, Sask., Lisa de Gooijer’s tidy-up-the-town day in Kelliher, Sask., and Rheagan Schott’s plan to have a place in Crystal City, Man., where people and businesses could have training on and access to modern technology such as computers, printers and fax machines.
“The entries show the tremendous creativity and commitment that young people in rural areas can contribute to build better communities in the future,” FCC president John Ryan said in a news release.
