May Queen Madness

May is quite the month! Between Provincial 4-H Selections, Young Farmer's Safety Workshop, announcing, judging showmanship, our 4-H show and sale, 4-H on Parade, school, and the many other events in May there is never a dull moment! To top it all off there is one big annual event in May that never ceases to amaze me! MAY QUEEN!!

Living in the rural community of Sundre, Alberta, I am one of roughly 350 grade 9-12 students that attend Sundre High School. Each year in May the four grades compete against each other to see who can work to raise the most money per capita for our school. The girls in each grade vote to appoint a "May King" for their grade and the guys in each grade vote to appoint a "May Queen" for their grade. The king and queen candidates in each grade work to sign job contracts for their grade and organize students to fill the jobs. I was our grade's "May Queen" last year and this is certainly a big undertaking! All willing students work doing jobs such as hauling brush, painting fence, raking leaves, cleaning up garbage, gardening, washing windows, etc. the second Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of May. The following Thursday our school has a big dance to celebrate all that we accomplished during our four days of work! The king and queen candidates from each grad get on stage and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place grades are announced! Last year we broke the record of the most May Queen money ever earned with a whopping $52,755.76!! This money is used to fund grad, school sports, band, field trips, scholarships, fun events, etc.

Me as the Grade 10 May Queen Candidate last year.

Wind + Paint = Green Tessa!

During May Queen our school and community come alive
with spirit! One of the greatest benefits of May Queen is getting to really know your class mates! Many of the jobs you work require lots of people, and you are not always with your best friend. It's one thing to see a person in your class every day, but when you actually work for hours on end with them, you really get to know them!

Wednesday we worked from 2:00 pm - 10:00 pm, Thursday and Friday from 3:00 pm - 10:00 pm, and tomorrow workers will be busy from 7:00 am - 11:00 pm! The first day of May Queen I worked painting fence... it was rather windy so the fence was not the only thing that got painted! At the end of the day it's great to look back and see all that you and the rest of the workers accomplished!

It's a crazy, busy, tiring, and wonderful thing - and I'm so glad that our school still does May Queen each year! 

Successful day of rock picking.