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Jesse is a boy from Sunridge, Ontario with a special friend. His name
is Fudge, and he’s a golden lab who is specially trained to act
as a guide dog for the blind. Jesse was born blind in his left eye, and
due to a soccer accident several years ago, Jesse lost his slight in his
right eye as well. Along with his community, Jesse worked to raise the
money to purchase a guide dog and attend classes at the MIRA Foundation
in Montreal. Now Jesse says he has “all the freedom in the world”.
Along with Fudge’s assistance, Jesse can navigate to anywhere in
this community and perform all regular chores on his large family-run
farm. Jesse still plays sports, and is probably more active than your
average 13 year-old boy. The best part about having a guide dog according
to Jesse is that he “lives to love the dog and the dog lives to
love me”.
Meanwhile, Caileigh is the youngest broadcaster to host her own live-to-air
Ontario radio show. Caileigh began hosting the show when she was just
13 years old! The show is called “The Caileigh Harper Show”
and it airs on CJCS radio on Sundays. Caileigh began by producing radio
shows through a volunteer broadcasting program that CJCS was hosting.
Caileigh is well on her way towards her dream career of broadcast journalism,
and says that there is no other way she would rather spend her weekends.
THE SWAP: Watch as Jesse and Fudge travel to the radio
station and learn how to produce radio shows, learn voice training, and
interview skills. As a final challenge, Jesse will get to host his own
show – ironically something he has always wanted to do!
On the flip side, Caileigh will travel to Jesse’s farm where she
will meet up with Jesse’s trainer from the MIRA Foundation as well
as her own guide dog! Caileigh will learn how to train the dog, give out
the different commands (in French!) and try her hand as basic navigation.
On her final day, Caileigh will experience first hand the freedom her
new friend can provide, as she has to take over Jesse’s regular
Sunday chores while blindfolded.
My SWAP experience was by far one of the coolest things I have ever done.
I got to work with a Seeing Eye dog and do tasks blindfolded that Jesse
has to do everyday. It was really neat to get the feel of what its like
to be visually impaired. The coolest thing that happened during my SWAP
was getting to work with Babou. He was just the sweetest dog and he listened
to me. I was really sad I had to say goodbye to him. Being in the barn
during my second challenge was the scariest thing. It was hard enough
trying to do things that you haven’t done before but being blindfolded
added to the stress and unfamiliarity.
I swapped places with Caileigh and took over her radio show for a morning
and I thought it was pretty fun because I’ve never been on the radio
before. The coolest thing that happened to me during my SWAP was that
I got to interview an actor from the Stratford festival. The most unfamiliar
thing to me was probably talking live on the radio because there were
hundreds of people listening and I didn’t want to mess up –
it would’ve felt bad. I was most proud of myself when I completed
the SWAP and I had lots of fun doing it. The thing I will remember most
about my SWAP would be talking on the radio and meeting people that work
on the radio; their personalities make you remember them.
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