Four kindhearted Regina kids surprised with Disneyland trip

Four students from Ruth Pawson School in Regina are off to Disneyland.

They’re set for a 72-hour adventure with Dreams Take Flight, a charity that takes kids who might be facing health or social challenges on a trip.

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The students selected in Regina are being recognized for their constant kindness and willingness to help others.

Vincent Dixon is one of those students. The Grade 6 student was surprised during an assembly on Wednesday. He thought it was going to be another normal day at school, but it turned out to be much more.

“My little sister was crying because she was so happy,” he said.

Dixon couldn’t stop smiling from ear to ear after he found out about the trip, and his friends and family shared his excitement.

“It was so great because I thought I wasn’t going to get picked or anything… But then once I heard it, I just, like, sprang up,” he said.

“When I stood there, my legs were like shaking because I was so excited and happy to be up there.”

Noah Schroeder is in Grade 8, and said he also felt it was going to be an uneventful day.

“I just thought it would be a normal school day and nothing else would really happen but I ended up winning a trip to Disneyland, which is just crazy,” he said.

“I honestly can’t believe this is happening right now.”

Shroeder said he always tries to be kind to everyone in the classroom and helps out by putting chairs up and cleaning papers off the floor nearly every day.

He said it’s just part of who he is.

“It’s just my nature really. Like, I don’t see any point in being mean or rude or bullying or anything like that.”

Grade 7 student Ava Tressel said she was shocked by the news.

“I was surprised,” Tressel said. “I did not see this coming at all.”

And Grade 7 student Kya Mychan said she cannot wait to go to Disneyland, especially with her friend Tressel.

“I couldn’t imagine a better person to go with than her,” said Mychan.

“I think I’m most excited to go on rides. As a kid I was always terrified, but I want to get over that fear.”

A whirlwind trip with Dreams Take Flight 

Greg Guest, Dreams Take Flight’s Regina representative, said he cannot wait to take the kids on the trip and reward them for not only being good kids, but for being good citizens in the community.

“When we walk through those front gates with the kids who’ve never seen it before, it’s truly a heart-melting moment, and it’ll never grow old for me,” he said.

“As an adult Disney nut myself, I see the magic on my own kids’ faces when they go into Disney. So to give this opportunity to the kids that may not have this opportunity, it just fills my heart, because every kid deserves to share this happiness and this experience of just having something positive and special in their life.”

He said the kids get to choose how they spend the trip.

“We’ll go on all the rides and whatever the kids want to do, meet princesses, meet characters, or just do rides all day,” he said. “Whatever they want to do, we’re at their mercy.”

Planning for the surprise started around nine months ago, and he said the trip will be a whirlwind 72 hours.

He explained that they will fly to Vancouver at 5 a.m. on the day, and then fly over to Winnipeg, where they will spend the day going on waterslides and eating pizza and hot dogs.

“I will try my best to get them to bed as soon as I can, because it’s a 2 a.m. wake-up call, and over to the Winnipeg airport for our chartered flight down to California, into Los Angeles,” said Guest.

“Then it’s eight hours in the park of as much as I can squeeze in, as many rides, as many Mickey Bars, as many churros, and as many parades as I can do.”

After the fun-filled day, Guest explained that it is usually a pretty quiet ride home.

“It’s a lot of sleeping, tired kids, a lot of happy kids,” he said. “There’s not much sleep in those 72 hours, but it’s always worth it to see the kids’ faces.”

Student selection process

Ruth Pawson School Principal Carmen Holota explained the process for selecting the kids who would go on the trip.

“We got to choose who we think are the best humans in our grades. They needed to be tall enough to be on the rides, they needed to be able to roll with traveling with a stranger, and mostly we were just looking at who are the students who we really appreciate every day at school, but don’t get the accolades that they deserve,” she said.

“When we got looking at the list, it was not really hard at all.”

Holota explained that the four students they picked are the ones who are always helping out and being kind to everyone.

“They’re the ones that will come and ask if there’s any extra help that needs to be done in the classroom. They’re the ones who say ‘Good morning’ back to you in the playground. They’re the students who, in an assembly like today, are usually the ones that are cleaning everything up and running to help,” said Holota.

“They’re always there, and they’re also very strong students, and they really like to learn. They’re in the library getting books, and really just what we’re looking for around here.”

–with files from 980 CJME’s Nicole Garn