It is March 25, 2010 at 7:45am and members of the Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio Society (SEPARS) are at Tim Horton’s for our last quick meeting before we present Amateur Radio to a class of Grade Five/Six students at Pacific Heights Elementary School in Surrey, B.C. There is a great feeling of anticipation as we have worked hard to reach this day. It has taken four months from the beginning of an idea to the realization of our project.

The beginnings of the idea for this project started as I, Marcy VE7JT, roamed the HF bands. I heard US school stations identifying and the voices of 12 year old student operators. The students made contact with several US states, Canadian, Mexican and Guatemalan stations. I was so impressed with the comments of support and encouragement from all the Amateur Radio operators who responded – local and worldwide that I realized we are not US Amateur Radio Operators, Canadian Amateur Radio Operators, Mexican or Guatemalan Amateur Radio Operators at all. We are just Amateur Radio Operators, who share a worldwide kinship. I very much wanted our local students to experience the support, encouragement and friendship that our hobby has to offer.

On November 18, 2009 I emailed Neil VA7DX and inquired if we could perhaps set up a school station with student operators using the special event call sign VG7W promoting the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. Neil forwarded my email to a few other Amateur Radio operators working on the 2010 Olympic special event call sign program for discussion. (Bill VE7XS, Fred VE7IO, Ed VE7EF and Ralph VE7OM) Offers of assistance were extended, but the main question was “Has anyone approached the school board or school districts?”

I contacted my friend Alice, a former Principal in the School District of Surrey, and explained to her our hopes of bringing Amateur Radio to the classroom. In our discussions Alice brought to my attention that, to be approved, our project must tie into the curriculum and fall under a specific category (Science, Language Arts, Health/Emergency, etc). Alice made inquiries on our behalf and connected me with Shelagh of the Curriculum Resource Centre, a Numeracy/Science Helping Teacher for the School District of Surrey. Shelagh was very receptive and enthusiastic about our project and determined the appropriate grade level to the curriculum to be between Grade Four (light and sound curriculum), Grade Six (electricity curriculum) to High School (electronics curriculum) under the category of Science. Shelagh informed me the next step would be to do an after school work shop for teachers, to present our project, including set up of radios and antennas. Upon completion of the work shop presentation, individual teachers would be able to extend an invitation to their classrooms.

Fred VE7IO expressed his interest to work on this project with the support of the Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio Society (SEPARS) equipment and operators. Our first SEPARS meeting was on December 3, 2009 to formulate plans, objectives, gather

information, materials and solicit operators. Fred made contact with Brian VE6JBJ RAC YEP Coordinator and was in the process of contacting a SEPARS member who was also a teacher. His insights as an Amateur Radio operator and a teacher would be very valuable to the project. When I mentioned his name to Shelagh she said he was already on the team as he worked in the science and math department at the district level across from her and they had been discussing the upcoming project from the moment I had contacted her. VE7CQU Angus’ comments on joining the team were “with 8,000 employees, a budget of $580 million, and a population of 66,000 students in 125 schools, the district is a rich resource of talent and resources for present and future Amateur Radio operators.” Things just kept coming together!

On January 14, 2010 with the support of the School District of Surrey, we worked with Shelagh to format our presentation plans for the upcoming Teachers’ workshop. Shelagh booked our workshop date and location, produced the teacher’s invitational flyer, emailed it out, sent follow up reminder emails, offered photocopy services for our handout materials, and would be present at the teachers’ workshop to do reception and introductions for SEPARS.

The Teachers’ workshop presentation was scheduled for February 2, 2010. We had five teachers pre-register. We set up SEPARS Grab N Go (see October 2009(?) issue of TCA) radios and antennas and presented a teachers’ information package to the two teachers who attended. Despite the disappointing attendance, our demonstration of Amateur Radio was successful and very well received.

We received a classroom invitation on February 5, 2010 from Sandra, a teacher who had pre-registered for the workshop but was unable to attend. She explained how Amateur Radio would be a perfect lead in to “Countdown” by Ben Mikaelsen. (a story about an African boy who makes contact with US Space Shuttle while using Amateur Radio). Her class would be reading the novel after our visit. We booked a date for the classroom visit and emailed a teachers’ information package to Sandra. SEPARS offered to meet with Sandra prior to the classroom visit to show what we would be bringing into her classroom.

We met with Sandra on March 3, 2010 setting up SEPARS Grab N Go for her viewing and discussed what SEPARS was offering. Our presentation would begin with introductions of SEPARS and members, followed by set-up of antennas and radio equipment – student assisted, short videos, a talk about the video’s and explanation of the five posts – Handheld, HF, D-Star, Morse code and an information post. Five groups of five students would rotate through for hands-on learning at fifteen minutes per post. We were able to borrow a copy of “Countdown” and read the novel during Spring Break to familiarize ourselves with the content. We began to customize the posts to incorporate and support all references to Amateur Radio mentioned in the novel.

Fast forward three weeks to March 25, 2010. The lunch bell just rang and I can’t believe our Amateur Radio classroom workshop is over. The students had a great time and were very impressed by speaking to Jane ZS6JEB, an African station through IRLP. Jane stayed on frequency for 1½ hours and took the time to speak to all twenty-four students. The kids enjoyed the handheld post simulation of an ARISS contact, were fascinated with the Radio Amateur’s World Map and the world map showing all the countries contacted by Fred VE7IO. They enjoyed working and sending messages with the CW keyer, and were riveted by the ARISS video of the recent contact with school kids from our neighbouring municipality of Langley. All had fun calling CQ on HF.

We immensely enjoyed working and sharing our knowledge of Amateur Radio with these bright, enthusiastic, and inquisitive students. It was a pleasure for SEPARS to offer two certificates for the next Amateur Radio Basic course donated by the Surrey Amateur Radio Club (SARC) to Sandra’s class. After completing an essay on their experience with Amateur Radio, two students were selected from a number of applicants and will be starting the class in the Fall. We look forward to welcoming two young Amateur Radio operators in the near future. We were so pleased with the response that SEPARS has offered to repeat the workshop at other city schools in future.

For me, it is very gratifying to know that twenty-four students left school that day and carry with them an understanding of Amateur Radio they did not have before.

With Thanks to Alice, Shelagh, Sandra, Neil VA7DX, Ed VE7EF, Brian VE6JBJ, Jane ZS6JEB, and SARC

Special Thanks to SEPARS – Fred VE7IO Surrey ERC, Alan VA7BIT, Jay VE7OFH, Don VA7GL, Jim VE7HUR, Angus VE7CQU, John VE7TI, Drew VA7DRW, John VA7XB, Bill VE7XS, and Ralph VE7OM

Marcy Lui VE7JT

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