Grade 12 Academics

My sister and I in Washington visiting Georgetown and George Washington University

Academic Highlight:
My academic highlight for my grade 12 year was having the opportunity to visit university's all along the East and West coasts of America. I saw 11 schools all along the East coast and 7 on the west coast. Hopefully i will be going to one of these 18 schools come next year!

Academic Highlight #2: 
My second academic highlight also has to do with my University experience. After a long thought out process i've decided to attend the University of California- Las Angles (UCLA) and am proud to become a bruin.


Academic Reflection:
My academic reflection is based on the amazing experience I had while visiting colleges. It was one of the most eye opening experiences i have ever had and i truly enjoyed every moment. I was able to visit Boston College, Boston University, Tufts, American, George Washington, Virginia, Georgetown, Penn, Brown, Harvard and MIT. All the schools were amazing and I was able to meet a ton of students, I highly recommend doing a university tour cause it is such a great experience. It all started when my sister Natalie and I were doing a university course at Brown University, after that we went to Boston to visit my brother Alexander who was filming a movie in the Boston area. After plenty of sight seeing and countless roller coaster rides, we were on our way with our cousin Ryan to visit our first University-Boston College. I loved everything about Boston College, but did not decide to apply there for other reasons. We then traveled to Boston University, Tufts, MIT and Harvard. Harvard by far was the nicest of the three, but it is Harvard and I soely went there to say "I went to Harvard". We then met up with my dad and said goodbye to my cousin we took the amtrak to Philly where we visited Penn and had a night out on the town, after that we continued on to Washington and Virginia. We were able to see a bunch of street performers and it was a very cute college town. Finally it was time to come home, it was an awesome time and I loved every moment of it, i strongly recommend doing a tour of your own some day.

Grade 12 Service

Sam Winning the Game for Team WHL

Service Highlight:

My service highlight for my grade 12 year was being a part of the first ever Collingwood Intramural games as a ref. It was a great way to get involved with the school as well as the other houses. I was able  to watch and participate in some very exciting and close matches.

Service Highlight #2: 

My second service highlight was organizing a group to attend my good friend Sam Reinhart's hockey game VS Russia. Sam was selected to be part of team WHL to play in the Subway Super Series against Russia.

Service Reflection

Sam and I have been good friends since we were in Kindergarten. So when sam was drafted by the Kootenay Ice who are located in Cranbrook, BC it was a major change for our relationship. Sam has been playing in Cranbrook for 2years and has only played in Vancouver once. So when sam had a chance to play in Vancouver for team WHL against team Russia there was no way i would miss it. Aidan Jarrar and I organized a group to attend the game. We sold over 100 tickets to teachers and staff and it was a great thing to be a part of. Sam played an outstanding game and was a huge part of team WHL's offence. The game was tied and was forced to go into a shootout. The shootout score was tied with only one canadian shooter left to go. It was Sam. Sam skated down the ice and with one quick move Sam had won the game for team WHL. It was an amazing experience to be apart of and it was awesome to see Sam and his brother Griffin win an international game in Vancouver. They both played so well and they were both considered to be WHL's top players. Im so excited for what the future holds for Sam and Griffin and i hope i will be able to organize a few more events for them in the near future.

Grade 11 Academics

Academic Highlight: 

My academic highlight for my grade 11 year was completing my AP Environmental Science course with a 91 average. I took 3 AP's in my grade 11 year so to get an A in one of them was a dream come true.

Academic Highlight:

My other Academic Highlight in grade 11 was the Human Geography project which required students to take photos of three different areas in a city and discuss their cultural and social differences

Academic Reflection:

My Academic Reflection for my grade 11 year would have to be the Human Geography field study. This project enabled students to roam around a city and truly notice the cultural, economic and social differences in such a small span of space. The field study required students to take three photos-two of areas one would want to live and one of an area one would not like to live. I took photos of the West End and Kitsilano as the areas i would want to live, and I took a photo of East Vancouver as the area I would not like to live in. While in East Vancouver i noticed a lot of differences to that of the West End and Kitsilano, one of which was the social living conditions. In the West End and Kitsilao there was substantially less homeless people living in the area while in the East side there were many homeless people roaming the streets, i even saw multiple uses of drug and alcohol substances.While in East Vancouver i interviewed a woman working in a coffee shop, and it truly gave me perspective on how lucky i am to be living in such a safe and stable environment. Students at Collingwood often do not appreciate the luxury's we have simply because we have had it our whole lives. This field study allowed me to compare my live to that of another person and put into perspective the reality's of the "real world". This AP Human Geography project was a great way to see the city and interact with citizens from a wide variety of social classes.

Grade 11 Arts

This photo earned 100% in my photo class

Highlight:

My grade 11 arts highlight would have to be participating in photography this year. Although photography is a common course offered at Collingwood, I love just watching my improvement in my photos for a long period of time. My favourite photo was marked as a favourite by many people on flicker and i gained recognition for my work when it was put up on the Collingwood art wall.

Choice 3:

My other Arts highlight for my grade 11 year would be finishing photography with an A. Most people may look at that and laugh but to me it was a very exciting moment. Mr Francis is a teacher that takes his work very seriously and i strongly believe that his passion is transferred to the students.

Arts Reflection:

My arts reflection for my grade 11 year has to be participating in photography. So far this year I have learned a tremendous amount throughout the year. One thing I enjoy the most about photography is that it often gives you a lot of creative freedom when taking the photos. One photo in particular that gave me a lot of freedom was the red balloon project where we had to take a photo of a red balloon filled with helium. This was a very open ended project but for me and I received my best results. I was able to capture 4 very colour filled photos that really allowed the balloon to pop out because of the contrast in colour. Photography was also a great class because of the teacher himself. Mr Francis taught me a tremendous amount in photography, teaching me editing and the usage of the camera itself. I now understand depth of field, focus, and aperture value on a camera, this has directly allowed me to improve my photos outside of school as well. My passion for capturing a great photo has been increasingly desired, and a lot of his passion is thanks to my teacher. Although I will not be pursuing photography in my future-or at least don't think so-but it will always be a very large passion of mine.

Grade 11 Athletics

Playing in the Senior Boys Cav Classic

Highlight:

In Grade 11 I was fortunate enough to participate in the 2011-2012 senior boys cav classic. It was an incredible feeling and atmosphere in the Collingwood gym. My greatest memory of the tournament was when my team was down by 8points with 3mins left in the 4th quarter. Our coach then told Kadin Burnett to take over the game, Kadin hit the game winner with 15seconds left. This game took place on Friday afternoon in front of the whole school, it was an incredible adrenaline rush when Kadin hit the final shot.

Choice 2:

Another athletic highlight for me in grade 11 was being able to start for the Collingwood rugby team. I had only been playing for 2 years so to have the opportunity to start was a huge honour, especially as a junior. The team has so far done very well winning the lower mainland banner, hatch shield and New Zeland Shield. I'm very much looking forward to tour in my grade 12 year.

Reflection:

My Athletic reflection for my grade 11 year would hands down be the basketball season. Going into the year i didn't really know what to expect, i was unsure if i would even get on the team. Fortunately I did make the team and even started for the first 2 months of the season. Due to my academic work load I was unable to hold this position and instead had to be part of the unit coming off the bench, nonetheless I enjoyed every minute of it. The team was considered to be one of the best in Collingwood's history, and we had only 4 seniors! The team even got to go on tour to Spain, but i was unable to go due to prior commitments. We participated in 3 tournaments in the year and we had very good results finishing in third  place in two of them and won the other. The tournament we won was in fact our own tournament, the Cav Classic. This tournament by far holds my fondest memory of the senior season. This tournament created a bond between the players like no other, the seniors Raman, Will, Kadin and Colby became very close to me over this period of time and i thank basketball for it. Looking forward i hope to play during my senior year at Collingwood, unfortunately there is no gym available for use, meaning we will not be able to host the Cav Classic. Some may call this disappointing but to me it only makes that previous tournament that much sweeter. I am looking forward to my senior year and despite us loosing our top 3 scorers i am still very excited. Basketball creates a very tight nit team atmosphere and a sense of brotherhood. Its a feeling like no other.