April was the time that I finally felt the warm spring weather coming in after the long winter season in Canada. It was also the timing of the major season of the badminton season, the time for preparing for the next school year, and it was a month full of fun.
This month, I have received and applied for multiple awards and competitions. In February, I participated in a math competition held at the school. The contest is called the Cayley Math Contest from Waterloo University. Contestants participated from all around Canada and internationally. Although I have not yet received any specific information or certificates from this, I have talked with the school teacher in charge of this. She told me that I got 108 points in the test, with the test average being 91.4 points. She also told me that I qualify for a medal because my score was higher than the Cayley Certificate of Distinction Cutoff, which was 108, and because I scored the highest in the grade. I am planning on doing it again next year. https://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2025/2025CayleyResults.pdf
Other than this, I applied for the Strathmore Citizenship award. This is an award for grade 10 students in Strathmore. The applications opened during late March and ended at the end of April. There was a Google form for applicants to fill out and to be sent to the town of Strathmore. There were questions asking about the applicant and their school life and achievements within the school community, activities participated in outside of the school community, and their academic status. There were also reference pages for school teachers and people who were related to the activity to prove the applicant’s actions. The result will be announced in the school theatre on the 5th of June. Winners in Strathmore High School will receive 500 CAD, a personal plaque, a scroll, a monetary reward, an access pass to all Town-Recreation facilities, and a signed letter from the town mayor. There are also some other awards that students can apply for throughout the year, and I am interested in applying for all that I am eligible for. I am doing this for my university scholarship and to make my profile appealing.
A prize that I won on the 5th of April is one from the Lethbridge Invitational 2025 Junior Badminton tournament. Lethbridge is a city about 2 hours south of Strathmore. I and the school badminton team, consisting of about 50 people left Strathmore early morning on that day to get to the tournament at 8 am. There were three major categories (Junior, Intermediate, and Senior) that were further separated (Boys and Girls singles, Boys and Girls doubles, and Mixed doubles). I played mixed doubles with a friend. The tournament was a pool-style tournament, where players compete against all other players in the same pool. There were 6 groups, a total of 30 teams. I and my team-mate won against all 6 other teams in our pool, and moved on to the quarter-finals. At this point, there were 15 opponents left. I won in the quarter-finals and had 2 matches left in the semi-finals. We lost in the first game in the semi-finals, leading us to the 3rd place match, and won that game. So, we ended up in third place, and the prize was a badminton grip. I and my team-mate were so happy, and were so shocked that we even made it this far in this massive tournament. Next year, we promised that we would play together in the county, zone, and provincial games.
After the Lethbridge tournament, the badminton team had the counties tournament (the qualifications for the zones tournaments) on the 10th of April. Strathmore High School hosted this event for 3 other high schools. In the county tournament, the top 2 players and teams qualify to move up to the zone tournaments hosted at Olds High School. All players and teams play in their own categorized pools, and have to be ranked in the top 2. I played boys doubles with a friend, and played against 4 other boys doubles teams in our junior boys doubles category pool. In the end, we won one and lost one game in the playoffs, ranked 2nd place, and qualified for the zone tournament.
On the 16th of April, the zone tournament was held in Olds. There, the top 2 players and teams from all high schools in south central Alberta came to compete to qualify for the provincial tournaments. For the junior boys doubles category, there were 2 pools with 8 teams in each. I and my doubles partner were in pool A, and competed against all 7 other teams. In the end, we won 6 games and lost only one, ranking us as 2nd in pool A. We moved on into the playoffs and qualifications for the provincials. Since we ranked 2nd in the pool, we competed against the 1st place in pool B. However, we lost to them 2-0, and moved to the 3rd-place qualifications match against 2nd place in pool B. We lost to them again 2-0, and ranked 4th place in the Alberta South Central Zones Badminton Tournament (the qualification match for provincials). We couldn’t make it to provincials, nor could we get a medal or certificate. We were both tired, sad, and were close to making it to provincials, as both playoff matches were close. In the end, the Strathmore badminton team sent one senior boys player, one intermediate girls doubles pair, and one senior girls doubles pair to the provincial tournament that was held on the 2nd and 3rd of May in Red Deer.
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On the 3rd of April, I went to the school dance party, Spring Fling. It started at 8 pm and went on till 11 pm. There were photo booths in the hallways, drinks and snacks, and a DJ in the gym. We were all in the school gym and dancing to the music all night long. We were all tired, so we took breaks to drink, take photos and breathe some air outside. Teachers in the school even dressed up in suits and dressed and danced with all of the students. It was a long and fun night, and I want to go to the next one next year.
On the 12th of April, I went to the Nakiska ski area in the Rocky Mountains. It was a day trip to the ski area organized by the dorms. This was the last ski trip for this season, and I was excited for this day to come. I chose to ski this last time, and went into the vast mountains of Canada with my other friends. We all started with short ski lessons to determine our ski and snowboarding skills. I was put into the highest ski level, and my group skied mostly in the silver course. It was lots of fun, and was even more once it was free time. My friends and I challenged to go to the gold course in the ski area; the most difficult one in Nakiska. The last time I went there was back in November, and back then, I was terrified when I saw how steep the slope was. However, this time I wasn’t as scared as last time, and rather enjoyed the steepness of the slope. Now, I feel more confident and plan on mostly skiing down the gold course slope.
On the 16th of April, I received an email from the principal of the school. It was written that I will be receiving an honour roll certificate for my academic achievements for the first semester of this school year. In the last semester, I got a 97 in my Math 10C class and an 80 in my LA 10-1 class. Other than myself, about 20-30 people out of the 300 students in my grade got their honour rolls.
The 28th of April was the election for the new prime minister in Canada. To recognize this major event held all around Canada, the school held an election within the school community for students and teachers to vote for a representative in Strathmore representing the different parliaments in the Canadian government. All students in the school voted for one candidate during class, and we all went through the process of voting.
The dorm organized a trip to Banff from the 23rd to the 25th; 2 nights and 3 days in Banff. There, we all did many things and participated in many planned activities. On the first day, we all went to the famous and beautiful Lake Louise. It is a massive lake in the Rocky Mountains, located just next to the borders of Alberta and British Columbia. Since we went there just a day after it snowed, the lake was still frozen and white. I and 3 other friends decided to cross the massive frozen lake on foot. Since it was so big, it took us a full hour to make it back to the start of the lake. We saw cracks in the ice, frozen waterfalls, and the beautiful and vast mountains around the lake. It was such an amazing and breathtaking experience. After that, we headed to the town of Banff and had lunch there. I had authentic sushi there, and it was so good. They had ikura, shrimp tempura, and lots of fish. Although they were crazy expensive(one ikura sushi costed 900 yen), I had lots of it and it made me happy. We had bowling night after that, where we also had pizzas and sodas. After that was free time in Banff. I wandered around Banff and the stores and restaurants. On the 2nd day there, we started with free time in Banff in the morning. I had ice cream, chocolate, and lots of good food that I missed for so long. After lunch, we all went to a big hot spring in the mountains. The hot spring could hold about 200 people at one time, and the view from the viewing area was beautiful. We could see the whole mountain range and the valley that Banff is located in. We had our supper in a restaurant called “The Old Spaghetti Factory”, where I had a lasagna. We had one last free time before leaving for Strathmore the next day, so we all bought many things. I bought clothes, gifts, food, and drinks. Before heading back to the hotel, I and about 10 other friends all went to the popular Korean restaurant to have a late-night meal. Back in the hotel, there were smores, a smaller hot spring, and a lounge where we all chilled and relaxed for the night. On the next day, we checked out from the hotel and headed to our last 2 destinations: Lake Minnewaska and Canmore. Lake Minnewaska was another massive frozen lake in the mountain range, and Canmore is another town smaller than Banff. We stayed for an hour at the lake, then headed to the town for lunch. In Canmore, I had ramen for lunch. It was really good, and I felt like going back to Japan for the food. After our lunch, we headed back to the dorms, and that was the end of our 3-day trip in Banff. I enjoyed the nature and the activities, and will go again next year.
During the 2nd week of April in school, all students in the high school went through the course selection process for the next school year. Throughout the five days of the week, we had presentations, discussions, and all sorts of planning to decide what classes we would take in the next school year. On Monday, all grade 10 students in the school gathered in the gym for a presentation about required scores to move on into specific 20-level classes, high school credits, future occupations, and university application. On Tuesday, our teachers explained to us how to use the PowerSchool website to apply for specific courses, things to consider when selecting, and individual recommendations for all students. Starting Wednesday, we finally started requesting courses for next year. There were requirements and some rues when deciding classes for grade 11 students; all grade 11 students can not have spare blocks, they have to have core and sub subjects, they have to have enough credits to graduate, a student must have a grade high enough for the selected, and students can not pick they preferred teachers. In the end, I chose the following subjects: LA 20-1, Math 20-1 Honours, Chemistry 20 Honours, Physics 20, Social 20-2, Aboriginal studies 20, CALM, Food studies advanced, and French 20. I will be able to see my final classes on PowerSchool during June.
ASLC is coming up on the 9,10 and 11th of May, and preparation for it has been intense doing April. ASLC stands for Alberta Student Leadership Conference, and is a massive event where hundreds of students from all around Alberta gather in a high school to participate in social activities, create new friends and bonds, become leaders in the new environment with new people, and listen to great speakers. This year, Strathmore High School is hosting this event in the school, and I have chosen to become one of the leaders supporting and involved in the activities. For the last 3 months, I and all 30 other leaders in the school have been attending our ASLC trainings and meetings every Monday after school, planning events, thinking of activities, creating posters and banners, bonding with one another, and familiarizing ourselves with the schedule. We all paired up with a partner to form spirit leader groups for the three days. These groups consist of 20 people, and we will be organizing these teams, keeping them entertained during the activity times, and making sure that they have a good time. During the activity times, we would play introductory games to get to know each other, and other social games such as charades, duck duck goose, and lots more. During other times, we would all be listening to the keynote speakers, or have meals together, and so on. We have one more practice rehearsal on Monday.
