"The Tree of Hope and Freedom" by Sakina Syed & Zhiyang Lareina Su

Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out the way you wanted it to. We want to represent this feeling through our design. The tree that is growing out of the hand demonstrates that anything you wish for will happen or that anything you pray for will be answered. We wanted to match the tree with the numerous colourful Canadian birds. Birds also represent freedom, the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. Birds are lucky to fly anywhere they want without any worry. We want people to look at this and feel the same freedom as the birds, feel as though they can just leave everything and fly away not caring about whatever is happening in their lives.

This paddle was submitted as a group trek alongside other members of Middlefield Collegiate Institute.