by Henry MacDougall
October was a busy month for youth in the West End and at King George Secondary, with events in the fields of politics, environment and spooky volunteerism.

THE POLLS WERE OPEN AT LORD ROBERTS ANNEX ON OCTOBER 15.

COUNTING THE YOUTH VOTE

Last month, elections for mayor, council, school board trustees, and parks board commissioners were held. I was invited to attend a panel with seven candidates for the Vancouver School Board, hosted in the auditorium of the recently reconstructed Kitsilano Secondary. Before the event started, I asked some of the candidates how they would treat the rebuilding of KG, and whether they would send the students to a different school during the rebuilding process. However, I did not receive a concrete answer.

Please note that Kitsilano Secondary was built in stages with no relocation of students. The school is now a beautiful campus and I hope that the students of KG will receive the same treatment.

In conjunction with last month’s elections on October 15, a symbolic student vote was conducted a day earlier at schools across Vancouver (including King George) to allow students to express their choices for mayor, council and school trustees. Ken Sim received 38 percent of the student vote, while Kennedy Stewart received 23 percent. Colleen Hardwick received ten percent of the vote, with the remainder of the vote being distributed among the other candidates.

This closely matches the results of the actual election. Looking at the results for council, however, out of the ten council members actually elected, only three showed up in the student results: Adriane Carr, Pete Fry and Sarah Kirby-Yung. Unsurprisingly, Amy “Evil Genius” Fox received lots of votes from the student body, perhaps because of their goofy name.

As Ken Sim also won the actual election, his plan for putting police officers back into schools may go into action at some point during his coming term of office.

FALSE CREEK, THIS SUMMER AND MID-OCTOBER.

DAYS OF SMOG & SMOKE

In an example of the global becoming local, another event that affected KG students last month occurred when smoke from wildfires across BC and Washington caused air quality to hit a low that was regarded as the worst in the world in mid-October.

These fires may have been caused by the warm, dry weather we experienced late into October. While some students made the decision to wear masks, no official warning was given via announcements.

Fortunately, students in gym classes stayed inside to avoid inhaling too much smoke during their exercise. Hopefully, the VSB will invest in some air filters after this event, or at least include them in the plans for the new King George building, as fires, smoke and the resulting air quality events look on their way to becoming the rule rather than the exception.

A HAUNTED TRADITION

It’s alive!

A Halloween tradition placed on life support by COVID was revived this October. Before the pandemic, the Barclay Manor Haunted House was a yearly tradition run by the West End Community Center’s Youth Incentive Program (YIP), which holds fun activities around the community. The program is focused on giving kids an opportunity to build their leadership and volunteer skills among their fellow students.

This year, the Barclay Manor Haunted House was once again decorated and opened up to give visitors a frightening tour, this year with the theme of a haunted hospital.

I took part in the haunted house, and it was a very fun experience for both the actors and the guests.

To anyone who has never visited the Barclay Manor Haunted House, it’s a great occurrence. In fact, I went there with my parents at age seven, and I couldn’t stop crying after, it was so scary. However, like a spicy chicken sandwich, you can request how extreme you want your encounter to be.

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Thank you!
Kevin Dale McKeown
Editor & Publisher
editor@thewestendjournal.ca