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Vanessa is this year’s Miss Teen Canada! As representative of Canada’s
youth, Vanessa is poised, sophisticated and is used to living in the spotlight.
Vanessa spends her summers traveling around Canada, making appearances,
taking part in parades and doing lots of charity work. On the flip side,
Lucy spends her summers in the badlands of Alberta searching for dinosaur
bones! Lucy loves science and one day would like to become a paleontologist.
THE SWAP: Watch as Lucy tries out being Miss Teen Canada
for the weekend. She will meet with Vanessa’s sponsor Caroline Cosmetics,
do some charity work at the Shriners hospital, and appear in a Canada
Day parade! Meanwhile, Vanessa will try out spending two days in the Alberta
desert. She will learn all about the study of bones, and even try to dig
up some of her own! How will Lucy deal with being in the public spotlight?
Will Vanessa be able to give up her 5 star hotels for a teepee in the
Badlands!?!
I swapped with Miss Teen Canada, and I had the absolute best time of
my life. I couldn’t believe I was actually living sometimes because
everything, the dinners, the cameras, the pretty dresses, were just so
incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier! The coolest
thing that happened was most definitely the really big Canada Day Parade.
With the pretty dress and the crown I felt really pretty. I felt so proud
when I was waving my Canada Flag and showing my “Miss Teen Canada”
sash. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. The moment I felt most
proud of myself was on the day of the parade, I took a little bouquet
of flowers that Jenny and Fatimah had given me in the hospital. I had
promised them I’d take it with me on the parade, and I did, so I
felt proud because I think I really made them happy.
For a few days, I traded my crown and sash for a hat and jeans, as I
became Lucy. As a student studying paleontology, I dug for dinosaur bones,
explored the Badlands of Alberta, and spent two nights nestled in a teepee.
Throughout my swap experience I was challenged physically, mentally, and
was lucky enough to meet many interesting and friendly people in the “dinosaur
bone capital of the world”. When I ventured on my swap experience,
I was eager to try to excavate some bones, and I was blown away when some
of the campers actually retrieved some fossils! I had never seen a real
dinosaur bone tooth before, and it was awesome to set eyes on something
millions of years old.
I consider myself to be fairly comfortable outdoors, but the cow-pie
experience was not something that I would typically encounter. I was very
surprised by that one. (I made sure to thoroughly wash my hands afterwards.)
Through my jam-packed few days, I was proud to demonstrate that Miss
Teen Canada can indeed survive life in the Badlands. I was also proud
of Lucy for showing that she too can also carry the Teen-Canada-torch
successfully.
I had a great time switching places with Lucy, and I really enjoyed all
of the activities in which I took part. Yet, I’ll never forget the
times that I had with the campers at bon-fire. I’m a huge cottage-girl,
and I’m so glad that I got to share in the camp songs, burger roast,
and porridge-mornings with all of the students at the camp. :-)
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