MONDAY, December 24, 2012 • 3
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NICOLA VALLEY NEWS
NVIT student has eyes on Australia Megan Fulcher will complete her social work practicum in Perth
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By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
For Nicola Valley Institute of Technology student Megan Fulcher, it’s not just graduation that 2013 has in store. The social work student will be going to Australia to complete her practicum on Jan. 1. “I just like to see other cultures, other peoples, other ways of being and thinking and doing,” Fulcher said. She said going abroad for her practicum was her goal, and she had almost finished planning a trip to Guatemala when the practicum fell through. “They needed things in Guatemala that did not fit my practicum objectives. I had about a month left before classes ended when I found this out, so I had a mini-meltdown,” she said. With the deadline to plan her practicum approaching, Fulcher sent a mass email to her friends and contacts asking for help to set up a work placement. She also applied to places in the Kootenays that work with Indigenous youth and families — which she said is her focus with this practicum — but things were looking even more grim when the Kootenays plan also fell through. However, those emails to her friends did net Fulcher a new opportunity: the one to do her practicum in Perth with the nonprofit Communicate Inc. Fulcher said the opportunity and the organization looked like a good fit, especially when the organization’s
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REMEMBER WHEN? From the Herald archives: December, 1982 NVIT student Megan Fulcher will complete the practicum for her Social Work degree in Australia. Emily Wessel/Herald
CEO offered her free room and board. She also got a provincial scholarship to cover the cost of her flight. “I’ve been trying to go to Australia since high school,” Fulcher said. “For it to actually work out is amazing.” The 29-year-old said she was bitten by the travel bug early, travelling throughout Canada and some of the United States when she was growing up. The northern Alberta native went to Cape Breton to do her
Bachelor of Arts after high school, spent three months in Mexico training with the National Outdoor Leadership School, travelled to Israel and heard bomb blasts at the Syrian border, and spent last summer in Guatemala with Impact Ministries. “I think seeing and being in different countries makes me appreciate what I have more,” Fulcher said. “The opportunity to travel has always been there, and it’s been a priority, so I’ve made it happen more than other people
may have.” Fulcher expects her practicum to end mid-April, although her flight back to Canada isn’t until May 14 — two days before her NVIT graduation. That will give her two more weeks to explore Perth and two to explore Sydney. As for her plans after graduation, Fulcher said she is open to working abroad or back in her homeland. “There’s so much learning to be had,” she said. “I think I’ll end up exactly where I need to be.”
Public invited to view the festive scene From Page 1 Not many Christmas villages can compare — even many stores that sell the decorations. Kempin noticed a picture of a Kamloops Christmas village in a newspaper and was encouraged
to assemble her scene. “I was spurred on when I saw that Kamloops had one. I saw a picture of it and I thought, ‘Oh, God, mine is way better than that.’” Kempin and her daughter dedicate hundreds of hours taking each decora-
tion — which is individually boxed — and placing it on white cotton to create the snowy scene. The decorations require care, and each has survived in immaculate condition since beginning the collection about 30 years ago.
The decorations certainly didn’t come cheap, so Kempin shops for them after Christmas when the prices are reduced, usually by about 30 to 50 per cent. Many of the small decorations cost about $60 each, and some are closer to $200.
Each ornament was placed in Kempin’s shed, but since selling her home, a friend has offered storage. She assembled her village last Tuesday and said she will keep it open through January. Next Christmas,
Christmas Eve
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DECEMBER 24th 7 - 8 p.m.
she aims to create the scene in November. “Every year is different, and they take on a life of their own. You never know until you get started.” The scene will be opened for public viewing sporadically until an undetermined time in January.
Recreation umbrella society formed Access to further funding for recreation should open up once the formation of a Nicola Valley Recreation Umbrella Society has been completed, says Merritt Recreation Director Carol Susak. The need for such a society became apparent several months ago when the Recreation Commission approached a donation for funding for the construction of three baseball diamonds in Merritt Central Park. About $10,000 could have been obtained for the work had a registered society with a federal tax exemption number applied.
Add meaning to your Christmas. Join us in celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, at our Annual Candlelight Christmas Eve Service.