A visit to the Philippines inspired eight-year-old Jase Quilao to put his experience into words and deliver his story to a captive audience.
In fact, his story was so captive Quilao is the zone champion for the Royal Canadian Legion public speaking competition. He heads to the district competition in Huntsville on March 24 to represent Collingwood Branch 63.
Quilao, a Grade 3 student in the Cameron Street Public School French Immersion program, was born in Canada, but both his parents were born and raised in the Philippines.
Last May was Quilao’s first time visiting his parents’ homeland, and his first time on a plane. His family spent a month there.
Quilao’s speech covers his first reaction to being on a plane.
“It was weird at first,” said Quilao.
The speech goes on to include his observations of the Philippines and some of his experiences while he was there. He met his great grandma, some cousins and other relatives.
“There’s a lot of colours on the houses, black, grey, blue, pink, yellow and brown,” he said. “There were lots of coconut trees, mango trees, banana trees and lots of chickens, they woke us up in the morning.”
Quilao visited a white sand beach and was very impressed by the colour, and that it stays white even under the water. He drank fresh coconut juice straight from a coconut.
“It was very exciting,” said Quilao of his visit. “My parents always talk about it, so I really wanted to go there.”
He wants to go back soon. Quilao made sure to use good expression and he walked around a lot for his speech. He thinks that’s what helped him win at the Zone competition.
Quilao’s favourite subject in school is science, and he’s particularly interested in plants. In his spare time he plays basketball, takes swimming lessons, does karate and is in his second year of piano lessons.
His parents Lea and Jason started the immigration process to Canada in 2004 and were both landed and settled by 2009. Lea came first, then sponsored Jason.
They moved away from overpopulation and a high unemployment rate for job opportunities. They believed Canada a good place to raise a family. They have two children, Jase, 8 and Ava, 6.
