For the past 7 years the RMC Foundation has funded fifteen Officer Cadets to participate in the annual Stratford trip organized by the English Department. The Stratford Festival continues to prompt our future leaders to confront many of the challenges they face today, and will see in the future; through a medium that itself challenges assumptions. Cultural, ethnic, class, gender, sexuality, colonialism and empire, family, the aesthetics of power, personal and professional identities, and the profound challenges and responsibilities of leadership are but some of the recurring themes at Stratford.
Students received a reading package introducing them to the plays before the departure, and, as in previous years, their critical reception of the performances reflected their diverse academic backgrounds. Participants hailed from programmes in English, business administration, economics, mathematics, computer engineering, psychology, political science, computer science, civil engineering, and electrical engineering. This range reflects the widespread appeal of the Stratford trip across the student body. In fact, this year twice the amount of student applications were received that we were able to fund.
The Stratford Film Festival allows student participants to develop a more robust cultural intelligence sensibility, in addition to nurturing those critical and creative problem-solving skills that are essential to navigating the global community in the 21st century, and to become a better leader in their future careers in the Canadian Armed Forces.
This annual trip of over $6,000 is funded by your donations to our Truth, Duty Valour fund for current student needs.
“I’m very thankful for my opportunity to visit the Stratford Theatre Festival. After watching two plays, School for Scandal and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, I feel genuinely excited about theatre as a medium of social and cultural expression. School for Scandal, in particular, spoke to me as a student at RMC, where the tight community often breeds rumours that are far from reality. This play outlined the dangers of gossip and conveyed the message that looks can be deceiving and we should always seek the truth firsthand. I truly appreciated the trip, the plays, and my chance to represent RMC at the event”