3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

Our partnership with 3PPCLI is unique in North America.

It started when our students led our school community in memorial. We planted a tree in in front of Laval Senior Academy (Laval Liberty High school at the time) in memory of one our alumni, Sgt. Chris Karigiannis, who was killed while serving Canada with 3PPCLI in Afghanistan on June 20, 2007.

When we planted our maple tree on November 11, 2008, our students asked us an important question; "Why do we wait until people die in order to recognize important contributions to our community?"

We stopped to listen to our students and to consider what they were saying. Through the discourse that followed, we made conscious effort to recognize people in our society who are making meaningful contributions as our lives interconnect. It was this spirit that caused us to reach out to 3PPCLI.

We realized that we missed the opportunity to care for Sgt. Karigiannis, but we can care for his friends and family.

In 2009, we adopted 3PPCLI and since then we have been working together to remember those who we have lost in war. In their memory we work to become leaders seeking and building a better world.

LEADERSHIP

Through our partnership with 3PPCLI, our soldiers help us to develop essential leadership skills and work to build effective teams. We learn how to develop a healthy and cooperative dynamic within groups as we set out to achieve our objectives. Our soldiers help us to contemplate our world and our role in it. Our soldiers have actively worked with developing our leadership teams at camps, hosted us in Alberta, and they travel to Quebec to play hockey with us. 

A BETTER WORLD

Students recorded over 150 000 hours of active citizenship and volunteer work in five short years. We have developed relationships with some of Canada's top leaders who invest in our youth as they learn to use their voices and move in positive directions to establish a more compassionate and better world.

PARTNERS

ASL has been given special permission to wear the colours of 3PPCLI as we work to be people of action that pursue a high standard of personal excellence as we build a better world.

3PPCLI established the Sgt. Chris Karigiannis and 3PPCLI Memorial Award and Bursary which is an annual award given to one graduate from Sgt. Karigiannis' alma mater. This award recognizes student leadership, academic excellence, and active community involvement over their three years of secondary schooling. The federal government has since replicated this award for high schools across Canada using our model.

A second Sgt. Karigiannis leadership award was designated in the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board at his elementary school (Souvenir) for a grade 6 student who exemplifies student leadership and community building.