Winnipeg,Manitoba
Jia Garcia tops them all
By Ted Alcuitas
Jia Garcia, a Grade 9 student at Winnipeg’s Sisler High School is this year’s winner of Historica Canada’s Citizenship Challenge – a tough contest on citizenship that pits students from all over the country.
The student who gets a perfect score gets to tour Ottawa for an Encounters Canada tour, travelling with her mom as pat of the prize.
Garcia immigrated to Canada from the Philippines six years ago.
Though she excels in history, she is actually considering architecture or engineering when she grows up.
“It’s a blessing, I think. I never expected to win. I just tried it, got the mark, and I never expected I’d win, because there’s thousands of others trying the test,” she told CBC in an interview.
“Our teacher gave us the test in the morning, and we could do it for 24 hours,” said Garcia, who took the test at home. “We learned a lot of the topics in class already.”