Mono Mills student enjoyed experience at Vimy Ridge
By ALAN LICZYK Staff Reporter
A lesson in history was learned by a Mono Mills student who travelled overseas for the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in France earlier this month.

Nicholas Zimmerman, 15 of Mono Mills, was among thousands of Canadian students who spent a week in France, marking the anniversary of Vimy Ridge. He was there representing Lieutenant Gordon Faithful, one of 3,600 Canadians killed during the battle. Zimmerman was one of 43 Orangeville District Secondary School students who took the education trip. He's seen here at the famous monument, looking over the plaques.

It was the first time 15- year-old Nicholas Zimmerman has visited Europe. He was there April 5-15 and attended the April 9 ceremony in Vimy Ridge. He was one of 43 students and 10 supervisors from Orangeville district secondary school who made the trip.

"It was really good," the Grade 10 student said. "I learned a lot about history."

The ceremony commemorated the 3,598 Canadian soldiers who died in the Battle of Vimy Ridge in the First World War. Among the dignitaries attending were Queen Elizabeth II and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

A Town of Caledon plaque is clearly visible on the site of the Vimy Ridge monument in France.

Nicholas said the trip was available to anyone who signed up. Each student who went was representing a Canadian soldier from the battle and Nicholas represented Gordon Faithful from the 75th Battalion who died in the battle April 9, 1917.

Nicholas visited the Vimy Ridge monument and war memorials in the area. Most of his time there was spent in France, but he also spent two days in England and a day in Belgium.

"It was a nice place to visit," he said of Europe. "I had a lot of fun over there."

He also had an assignment to make something and put it into a time capsule at Vimy Ridge. It could be an essay, poem or pictures.

Many sponsors helped pay for the trip. The students also raised money selling bracelets and they had a funraising night through Theatre Orangeville earlier this year.