Kinsmen Club of Keswick
Kinsmen Club of Keswick
Keswick Kinettes & Kinsmen and their families have hosted this event for 17 years. We pick up at Church Street seniors apartments, Keswick Gardens, and Cedarvale Lodge. Our Guests are taken by bus to view the Christmas lights and displays around Keswick and then taken to a reception for refreshments and Christmas Carols.
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Local high school graduate and devoted volunteer Rebecca McGeehan will attend the University of New Brunswick this fall, thanks, in part, to a $1,000 bursary from Kin Canada.
Ms McGeehan, 18, left town last week on a two-hour flight to her new home in Saint John, N.B. where she enrolled in the four-year psychology program, before becoming the first Keswick resident to receive the Kin Canada Bursary.
Upon learning she was chosen for the bursary in early July, "I had the biggest smile on my face," Ms McGeehan said.
Especially surprised to be chosen, she thought she incorrectly filled out the application in early spring, and didn't expect any response.
One of only 42 recipients across Canada, Ms McGeehan was chosen out of an initial 1,220 applicants for her "combination of good academics and community involvement," Lauren Roberts, Kin Keswick secretary, said.
Ms McGeehan has over 300 hours of community service from volunteering with The Sutton Fair, Jericho Youth Services, Cedarvale Lodge, Southlake Regional Health Centre and Keswick High School student council and Healthy Active Council.
Inspired by the school's requirement of 40 hours of community service, Ms McGeehan decided to raise the bar, setting and surpassing a personal goal of 200 hours.
"Forty hours seemed like nothing and I figured it was better to volunteer than to watch TV," she said.
Even though all her volunteer work left her with little time for herself "I loved all the experiences. Volunteering is a great feeling," Ms McGeehand said.
It's a feeling she hopes to continue to experience, by finding new volunteer opportunities even while attending university and dealing with a heavy course load.
She is already looking into youth centres close to the campus and hopes to travel to Africa one summer to help build homes for those in need.
Ms McGeehan isn't sure what exactly made her want to study psychology but "I always knew I wanted to help people and travel," she said.
She admits she didn't even look at Universities in Ontario until November, drawn instead to distant locations like Saint John, where she hopes to make time to visit the Bay of Fundy and get the chance to see the orca whales.
Furthering her travel aspirations, Ms McGeehan also plans to study abroad via exchange programs.
"I'd like to go to England. Maybe work in a castle," she joked.
Eventually Ms McGeehan plans to return to Canada and see its opposite coast, while working in British Columbia.
In the meantime she expressed thanks to the Keswick Kinsmen and Kin Canada for helping her receive the bursary and everyone who gave her the opportunities to volunteer.
