Grade 10 - Arts Reflection - Photography

This year I have really taken an interest in photography. Although I wasn't eligible to take the course in Collingwood's timetable this year I always seemed to make time for my hobby in my spare time. I love to take photos of nature, so Vancouver is a great place to enjoy taking pictures!

My love of photography started when my Grandfather left me his Nikon film camera.  I was 9 and loved to experiment with this new gadget. I loved the anticipation that came with waiting for the film to be developed, but soon realized that in order to take more pictures and have them more easily accessible to show my friends and family, I would need a more reliable camera. Two christmases ago, my Dad bought me a Canon Rebel T1i camera and I have been in love ever since!

Photography is a great way for me to express myself and I am so excited to continue with it in the future!

Grade 10 - Choice Highlight #3 - Volleyball Nationals

 For the past 2 years I have played club volleyball with the North Shore Stars.  This season we had the change to travel to Toronto to participate in the U16 National Championships.  It was an exciting 4 days of play, and in the end we came 10th in Tier 2, which was a very good accomplishment.  We played well as a team and persevered through all the matches coming out with some strong victories.  Go Stars!

Grade 10 - Academics Highlight - Pre-Calc 11

This year I was in Pre-Calculus 11. I found it to be a huge step up from Math 10, so I struggled throughout the year with grasping concepts and applying them to do well on tests.  I was really worried about my mark and how it kept dropping with each test, so I began going in twice a week at lunch and doing 30 minutes of practice each night at home. Around exam time I studied hard and worked to understand and improve each unit.  By the end of the year, even though my mark wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be, I knew I had tried my best and worked hard to improve, which I was proud of.

Grade 10 - Athletic Reflection - Track and Field!

 For the past few years I have been a part of Collingwood's track and field team. At the start, I only competed in high jump, but this year I have really started to branch out and try some new events!  This season I tried 400m hurdles, 100m hurdles, 100m sprint, and long jump in addition to keeping with high jump.  I was very proud of myself for trying the new events, especially when in my first 400m hurdles exhibition race, I came first!

Last season and this season I had been having some mental issues with high jump. I knew I could make the height, but for some reason my body wouldn't listen and I was too scared to even attempt many heights. At the North Shores qualifying meet, I really didn't want to compete in high jump because I thought I would embarrass myself or not jump to my abilities.  In the end, I forced myself to jump and i qualified for the North Shores.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the meet because of some scheduling problems, but in the end what mattered was that I pushed through and faced my fears.

Grade 10 - Academic Reflection - Model UN Trip

During the Model UN Trip in Grade 10, I learned a lot about the global community and myself.  I chose to write about this trip for my Academic reflection because it was really an eye-opening experience for me.  I really enjoyed meeting so many people from all over the world and I learned that even though people can be from such different backgrounds and places, they can still agree on one simple initiative or idea and work together to produce a common goal.

Working with others during the Model UN conference helped me improve upon my negotiation and listening skills. To come to a common realization or goal, everyones opinions and thoughts need to be heard and taken into account. At the start of the three days, it was difficult for me to really contribute to the conversation because everyone had such strong opinions, but I feel like as the hours passed I felt more and more confident in the environment. By the end I was involved in debate and I even was a sponsor on one of the resolutions produced by our committee! 

I learned a lot during the tourism portion of the trip as well. We visited the 9/11 Memorial, which really put into perspective the severity of the events that I couldn't really understand at the young age I was when the attacks happened.  Also, we visited the CBC stages in New York. It was very interesting to see how and where many famous TV shows and movies were filmed!  

I loved New York and Im sure I'll be going back there in the near future!

Grade 10 - Choice Highlight #2 - Pomegranate Art Piece

In second term of Grade 10, in Studio Art 10AP, we were tasked with a bredth project. We could do anything of our choice for this project, which at the start made me a little bit nervous.  I am used to being given at least some guidelines and working within them.  I chose to draw a pomegranate and grapefruits with Prismacolours (blendable pencil crayons) and I was very pleased with the result. At the start I was worried and having trouble with the project, but I kept working at it and in the end I was very happy with the piece!

Grade 10 - Academics Highlight - Model UN

In March of my Grade 10 year I travelled with 15 of my peers and 2 teacher to New York City to participate in the National High School Model United Nations Conference. We discussed important world issues to find suitable solutions and debated the findings.  While in New York we saw the World Trade Centre Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, and 2 Broadway musicals! It was the trip of a lifetime!

Grade 10 - Arts Highlight - "Winter Song" Dance Piece

During the first term this year, we were working on our pieces for the student choreography show.  I was a part of three pieces one of which was to the song "Winter Song" by Sara Bareilles. I was very worried at the start of the piece because it was very advanced choreography and I had trouble with some of the solo movements. Throughout the time we had to practice our piece I worked very hard to perfect my movements and add feeling into them.  By the night of the show I felt confident in my ability and I performed the dance without few mistakes, which I was very proud of.   Now I know that with commitment and determination I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.

Grade 10 - Service Reflection - Belize Service Trip

In November 2011 of my Grade 10 year I had the opportunity to travel to Belize with a group of amazing students for a service trip.  While we were there we had the opportunity to take part in both rewarding service opportunities as well as adventurous activities. 

The first half of the trip we were staying on Ambergris Quay, and island off the coast of Belize.  While on the quay, we spent three days cleaning up the beaches there.  Because of the world’s currents, a lot of the world’s garbage ends up drifting ashore on the east coast of the quay.  It was very important for us to help the locals clean up the beaches because of the impact the garbage has on the environment as well as the sea turtle nesting grounds that lay there.  While we were on the quay we also had the privilege of taking part in a half-day catamaran trip where we swam with sharks and saw all the wonders of the reef!

On the second part of the trip we stayed on the mainland helping out in schools across the country.  In my opinion, this was the most rewarding portion of the trip.  While working in the schools we painted many classrooms, provided sports equipment for the children, built a stone wall around their garbage pit, and got the chance to play with the children. I was amazed to see how joyful and excited they were all the time even in the depths of the poverty they face each day and how little they have in comparison to us in Canada.

The Belize service trip is something I will never forget. The people we got to help, the things we got to experience, and the places we saw will forever be in my heart

Grade 10 - Choice Highlight #1 - Coaching Diving!

Up until last year I was a nationally ranked competitive diver, so after my retirement in 2011 I decided to become Level 1 certified and begin coaching with my old dive club, The North Shore Dolphins Dive Club as well as with the North Vancouver Cruisers Dive Club.  This experience has helped me learn more about how to coach young athletes to success and help them improve and grow as a diver, as well as more about the diving community in general and how it works. Before I began coaching I only ever saw the sport from the athlete's perspective, but now that I am a coach, I understand how hard it is and how dedicated coaches have to be to their divers.  It has helped me to appreciate my coaches more and how much time they put into my career.  I really enjoy being a coach now and I am happy to be able to stay involved with the sport even though I am not competing anymore!  Click here to view my coaching bio :)

Grade 10 - Athletics Highlight - ISA Volleyball Champions

This year I had the privilege of being a part of the Jr. Volleyball team.  I really enjoyed being one of the older players on the team and being a role model for the younger ones, some of whom did not have very much experience with the sport to begin with.  We had a rough start to the year, simply because we had never played together as a team before. As the season progressed we had more and more success leading up to the Independent School Association Championships at Brentwood School in Victoria.  At the ISA’s we ended up placing first in a close match against West Point Grey Academy.

Grade 10 - Service Highlight - Belize Service Trip ☀

In November 2011 of my Grade 10 year I had the opportunity to travel to Belize with a group of amazing students for a service trip.  While we were there we had the chance to help clean up the local beaches, paint 3 schools that weren’t as fortunate as us, and play with the children at the schools who were so eager to learn about us and where we came from.  Although there were some difficult obstacles we had to overcome at times, it was an experience of a lifetime and I will never forget all the incredible people we met and thankful schools to whom we lent a very much-appreciated helping hand.  All the memories I have of Belize are positive and will stay with me forever. The people we met were some of the kindest and more accommodating I have ever met.