Keegan, 12, is a Navy Cadet from Kingston, On, who loves sailing. Every summer he attends Navy Cadet camp, where they do drills, learn sailing and basically live on the water. Zac, 11, is a budding artist from Kitchener Waterloo. He loves painting, sculpting, pottery, cartooning, and building modern art installations with his mom, an art curator.

THE SWAP: Watch as Keegan learns to express himself freely, while learning traditional art and more modern ideas. He will try pottery and painting, as well as sculpture and mask making, all in preparation for his big display at city hall. Meanwhile, Zach will join the Navy and learn to live a regimented life. He will eat their food, stay in their bunks, drive a boat, and perform safety drills, such as “Man Overboard!”

SWAPPERS JOURNAL - KEEGAN

My SWAP experience was phenomenal but not at all what I thought it would be. Overall it was an extremely positive experience. The Eichorns welcomed us into their home and I felt very comfortable in their house. I was most proud of myself when I completed my Stained Glass project. Stained Glass always seemed really complicated and I was proud that I had done it myself with wonderful help from Karen. The thing I remember the most on my SWAP is meeting Henry, the hamster. During the filming in the Art Gallery, there was a hamster named Henry who put his nose right up to the camera. The Crew decided to keep Henry in the shot as he was very cute. We had a good time making jokes, watching Henry poop, and generally laughing with the crew.

SWAPPERS JOURNAL - ZAC

The moment I felt most proud of myself was when I was driving the boat because I was pretty much like the captain. And that thing that was really cool about being the captain was that I got to learn lots of things like that the boat had more than one motor, how to drive the boat and how to work it.
I got a uniform and it started off looking goofy but I got to like it. I shined one of my boots. They gave me shoe polish and cloth and told me to spit on it to get it wet whenever I needed it to be wet. They also told me to breathe on it to help it shine. In the end I thought that it looked pretty good. I got my going away present which was a bunch of badges, a poster that showed me what all the badges meant, a t-shirt and a pin and a brochure which I really liked. And it wasn't what I was expecting either!
I probably felt the most unfamiliar at lunchtime because I was worried about how it would taste, how it would look and everything else about it. I'd say that being an art-kid is a lot easier than being a navy kid. Still it was a great experience. I tried it and so should you!