In 1914, thousands of teenage boys would lie about their age to see action on the battlefields of the First World War.

A century later, 16-year-old Rohan Ashar is travelling to Europe to follow in those soldiers’ footsteps and learn what they went through.

He’s interested to see “what the trenches are like.”

“Beside the Vimy Memorial they have a bunch of trenches that the Canadian soldiers fought in,” Ashar said. “I learned a lot about the trenches in history class but (I’ve never) actually got to see them myself.”

Ashar, from Local Delphi Secondary School in Toronto, is one of 20 students from across Canada who took off this past Monday on a weeklong journey for winners of the yearly prestigious Vimy Pilgrimage Award. They’ll be travelling through France and Belgium to visit the locations where Canada made its mark on the world stage during the First World War.

When he heard he’d been selected, he said he felt “really excited, because I never expected to win this type of competition.”

This year wasn’t the first time Ashar had applied; he discovered the award in Grade 10, when he was researching Vimy Ridge for a history project. Although he submitted an application that year, he didn’t get in, and decided to focus more on his volunteer work before applying again.

The Vimy Pilgrimage Award is given to students who “demonstrate a commitment to volunteer work through outstanding service, positive contributions, notable deeds, and bravery,” according to The Vimy Foundation’s website. Some of Ashar’s volunteer work was with the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program, doing fundraising for foundations such as SickKids.

“A few months ago we set up a lemonade stand and we got, I think, $200, and we donated all that to charity,” he said. “I like being able to talk to other people about the issues in the world and asking them to help donate to the cause.”

One of the volunteer experiences that has impacted him the most has been volunteering at a local care centre.

“There’s a lot of elders there,” Ashar said. “There’s a veteran there who fought in World War II, his name is Jim. He hasn’t really opened up about (the war), but I do know that he was a soldier.”

Ashar said the main job for volunteers there is to talk to the residents. He usually speaks to Jim about his day-to-day routine, or his grandchildren — although Jim hasn’t talked to Ashar about his experiences as a soldier, Ashar said that just speaking to him made him more interested in Vimy and in the Pilgrimage Award.

Ashar’s family used to live in Mumbai, India, but they immigrated to Canada when he was about 5 years old. He’s called Toronto his home for more than 10 years now, and said that learning more about Canada’s history has made him feel more connected to the country.

“Obviously, I’m excited to see everything, but I’m mostly excited to see the Vimy Memorial. (We) learned about it in history and I thought, ‘wow, that looks amazing.’ It’s a beautiful memorial, so actually being able to see it in person (will be) different,” he said.

And although it’s not necessarily on the itinerary for a trip focused on learning about the First World War, he’s also excited to see the Eiffel Tower, even if only from a distance.

Ashar may have been surprised by his win, but it’s not the first time he’s surpassed his own expectations. He won first place in the 2016 Gallaudet National Literacy Competition and the Optimist Speech Contest for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

“I was obviously happy when I got first place, because I never thought I’d be able to do something as big as that, like win a national literacy competition,” Ashar said.

He has been hard of hearing since he was born, but says it’s “not too bad.

“My challenges inspire me to do greater things.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Representing Toronto in the Vimy Pilgrimage Award is just another one of those things.

“When I come back, I want to tell everyone about everything that I saw there,” he said.

One of the people he knows he’ll be sharing it with is Jim.