Students will be showcasing their talents and hard work as they compete for one of 67 $1,250 scholarships this week.
Art, drama, music, dance, trades, media, culinary arts, photography and technology will be featured at the Vernon District Scholarship Showcase and Competition at the Vernon Recreation Complex. Public viewing Wednesday, April 27 takes place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and on Thursday, April 28 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“If you have never seen student scholarship projects in the past, I would encourage you to see the amazing creative talents of our Vernon youth,” said Linda Spiller, director of instruction.
“There will be several solo performances from students between 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening and this will take place in the common area amongst the exhibits, adding to the vibrant atmosphere of student projects. This continues to be an excellent venue for students to showcase their work and we are inviting the public to come out and see their many talents.”
The project scholarships are open to all Grade 12 students at the five secondary schools in the district. The Ministry of Education provides each winning recipient with an award (voucher) of $1,250 that they can use towards tuition when the student enrolls at a post-secondary institution.
The students have been working on their projects for a good portion of the year, with some spanning multiple years. Dedicated sponsor teachers have been offering ongoing support, advice and guidance. Aside from the performances, all participants assemble a display that shows their work and completed projects.
Each participant receives feedback on their projects from a small panel of judges, a fellow participant and an expert judge from the community with expertise in the specific content area who will serve as the primary judge.
“We rely so much on the high level of community expertise to serve in the judging process,” said Spiller. “Many community experts provide this service each year and have provided wonderful feedback to our students. We would like to publicly acknowledge their contributions to this event.”
The district continues to seek ways to provide descriptive feedback for students to honour their personalized learning journey. Expert judges are encouraged to share with others in their common area of expertise how their creative talents have influenced their career and to share their personal learning journey with the students. This process proved valuable last year. Students also appreciated the positive feedback about their projects from their peers.
Judging of the performances takes place Wednesday between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.. Judging of displays takes place Thursday from 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
All sessions are open to the public and are free.