EAST SIDE TRIP A LESSON IN DRUGS, FILM AND MONEY

The lessons teen Rachelle Jones learnt during a trip to Vancouver's
seedy east side were valuable in more ways than one.

On one hand, she was reminded that saying yes to drugs is never wise.
And in the other hand she's now holding $2,500 won by taking those
lessons and turning them into a project plan.

The 18-year-old was one of 11 "deserving" Vancouver Island students
to earn community leader scholarships through the Coastal Community
Credit Union.

Jones submitted a 15-minute video she created using 48 hours of
footage shot by her and classmates during a Scared Straight tour of
east Vancouver last year.

While cutting the film down to size was a monotonous task, she feels
it captures addiction's personal toll.

"I tried to focus most of my movie on the people," she said. "They
have lived it and they know it. Everybody realized they made a huge,
monumental mistake."

Wandering the east side alleys and meeting the addicts who call the
area home gave Jones the kind of education she couldn't get in a
classroom, she said.

Documenting the experience gave her something else: the ability to
feed her artistic appetite.

"I love creative writing," she said. "Film is just another medium to
get that across."

She wasn't the only Cowichan Valley teen to be recognized with a scholarship.

Shawnigan Lake school student Francesca Champagne was recognized for
her project Pedal Power to the People, a plan to greenify Parksville
by making it cyclist friendly.

Champagne, 17, is boarding in Shawnigan Lake but her family lives in
Parksville. When she visits home and goes biking, she finds there
aren't many other cyclists on the road, possibly because the roads
are frightening.

"I thought if that changed, people would be more inclined to get on
their bikes and ride to work," she said. "Part of it was to try and
bring more bike-friendly routes in the community, where people could
ride without worrying about cars."

The contest winner, who hails from Comox, received $3,000 of personal
money and an equal amount that will go toward implementing his proposed plan.