Prince Arthur School’s second and eighth grade students had the opportunity to fire questions at Linda Otnes Henriksen, Stor-Elvdal’s deputy mayor, as she visited the classroom to answer some questions about Norway, herself, and the Norwegian moose, Storelgen.
All of the kids had good questions prepared for Henriksen, covering all of the important topics: why did they build their moose, what is it like being a deputy mayor, does your city have a hockey team, and of course, the most pertinent, ‘will you feel bad when we beat you in the moose contest?’
Henriksen assured the class that there will be no hard feelings when Mac the Moose’s rack is given an upgrade, making it taller than Stor-Elvdal’s moose.
The second grade classroom even learned a few Norwegian phrases to show Henriksen, who wowed them with her fluency and thanked them for inviting her to visit, in Norwegian.
“It's been great, and the kids were all so well behaved and so friendly, and prepared all the good questions,” said Henriksen, on her visit to the school. “I’m happy that they took the time to learn about Norway prior to my visit, so I think that’s pretty great.”
As a teacher herself, Henriksen was interested to wander the halls of a Canadian school, even taking photos of the bulletin boards in the hall and the classrooms to take back with her.
“It feels great, it's such a wonderful opportunity to come and see a Canadian school, very different from our school, and to see how it works, so this has been really great,” said Henriksen. “As a teacher, I’m always looking for new ideas on how to do things, and to visualize things, so this is a great inspiration for me.”
The ongoing Moose Summit brought Henriksen to Prince Arthur, following a morning out at 15 Wing Canadian Forces Base spent touring the base and being fitted for her own flight suit. Next on the agenda is the Warrior’s game against the Saskatoon Blades on Tuesday night, Mar. 5, where Henriksen will be dropping the puck to truly get a taste of Canadian hockey.
Henriksen has been winning the hearts of Moose Jaw since arriving — “moose dancing” with Mayor Fraser Tolmie in front of Mac the Moose, taking selfies with the crowd at the PRISM Awards — and proving that this visit is more about fostering friendship than about winning the Moose War.
