Hay River teen raises money for school trip to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand

A Hay River teenager is working hard to make his dream of international travel a reality.

In April 2025, 14-year-old Donavin Rodger-Evans aims to join his classmates at Diamond Jenness High School on a plane to Hawaii and, after a visit to the US island state, continue his route to Australia and New Zealand.

The trip is expected to cost nearly $10,000 when you factor in flights, accommodation and bus fare to and from Edmonton.

Rodgers-Evans works as a cashier at Super A Foods, a grocery store in Hay River, and also helps her father deliver groceries to residents.

“I like it,” he said. “It keeps me busy.”

While his part-time job is his main source of savings, he also recently held a 50-50 draw to help cover the costs of his trip.

Tickets cost $2 each and it ended up selling “more than expected.”

“It went really well because a lot of people bought tickets,” he said after school on May 21. “I ended up winning $800. The winner received $400, but donated $250 to the fundraiser.

The big trip is organized by Jacquie Richards, a teaching assistant at the school. This is not the first trip Richards has participated in. She has already helped students, including Rodger-Evans' older cousin, visit other countries like Italy and Greece.

Rodger-Evans said his cousin's trip changed his life and he hoped to have a similar experience himself.

“It changed his world and opened his mind,” he said, noting that another cousin would join him on the trip to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. “I hope this happens for my [other] cousin and me.

“I hope this will change me, that I will be more open-minded and that I will make more friends.”

Rodger-Evans said he was very excited to visit Australia. He and his peers will spend time on the country's east coast.

“I’m especially excited for Australia,” he said. “I've heard that Canada is really friendly there and I'm looking forward to meeting new people.

“I’m especially excited to go to the coast and go to the beach,” he added. “I am delighted to go to [Sydney] Opera [too].”

Rodger-Evans already has his passport and is working on obtaining the necessary visas for his travels. Once that's done and his fundraising is complete, all he has to do is make the long journey to Hawaii, then on to Australia and New Zealand.

He's aware that flights could be uncomfortable — he plans to watch Netflix on his iPad to beat the boredom — and acknowledged that jet lag is a possibility. However, all the hard work and long flights will be justified when he steps off his plane into the Hawaiian sun.

“For me, it feels like I'm going to a completely new place that's not even part of the North American continent,” he said. “It will probably be mind-blowing for me because I’ve never been out of the country. I’m excited to see a new culture.

Tom Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWT News/North