The first semester is almost over, and tensions over exams are taking hold of the students at L.V. Rogers. Exams go from January 24 to 28. But, of course, we’re still having fun and looking forward to the new set of classes coming up. Or some of us are anyway.
The school counselors, Deb Smith and Karl Machado, put on a scholarship information meeting in the school theatre on Wednesday.
There were booklets given out that review applications for local scholarships, district scholarships, post-secondary entrance scholarships, affiliation scholarships, provincial government exam scholarships, and the Passport to Education. For anyone who couldn’t make it but still want to know, the booklets are available in the counselors office at the school.
LVR will be making film history this year, as the school is producing Canada’s first school-wide major motion picture, Project Turquoise Snowflake. Students and many people in the community, I’m sure, have heard the name, heard maybe little bits of information about the project. The audition process has already started. The school will be doing auditions and callbacks and hopefully have the casting finished by the end of January. They hope to start shooting at the beginning of March and shoot through to June. Through the summer they’ll be editing the film and hopefully finish for September.
I talked to Olivia Bogaard, a close friend and one of two student producers of the film. I asked her what the production was about, since many people, including myself, hadn’t the faintest clue.
“The production is about global warming and what youth can do to change it,” she said.
This shocked me and made me ecstatic all at once.
Global warming has been a major concern and element of news in our generation’s life for as long as we’ve been alive. It’s all we hear about, and personally, it’s the thing I am most worried and passionate about. I wanted to know more. Olivia showed me the log line of the film, and as I read, my smile grew and grew.
With global warming escalating and eco-terrorists attacking oil companies, an unlikely group of teens organize a youth driven movement, which challenges an indolent Canadian government to step up and show global leadership.
The school’s goal is to enter the film into the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival to spread awareness of global warming among the youth. Wow.
If anything makes me want to jump with joy, it’s seeing young adults getting involved in global issues that are beyond our reach now, but soon won’t be.
As we grow up, the world is going to be left to us, and it’s going to be our responsibility to change it. Teenagers today are more aware and concerned of global issues than most adults expect us to be, and we want them to know it now.
For those of you who are scratching your heads wondering where the name of the film came from, I will explain it to you. Around the time when this film was being thought up, there happened to be news about purple snow in Russia from the amount of pollution in the area. Soon after, Robyn Sheppard, the drama teacher found a turquoise snowflake on the bottom of her shoe from an earring or a piece of jewelry. Turquoise is her favorite color, and she saw it as a sign.
Kaitlyn Foot is a Grade 12 student at L.V. Rogers high school. Her LVR Talks column is featured in the Nelson Star on a regular basis
