Shawnigan Lake School

Kung Fu Film Festival

There was no red carpet leading into Mitchell Hall this past Wednesday, but that didn’t dampen the buzz as the Film Production 360 held a film festival to show off the students’ work so far as they prepare for the 2023 BC Student Film Festival.

Groups of three to five students screened their films — ranging in length from one to seven minutes — for an audience of their peers, then fielded questions from the floor about their projects. The filmmakers discussed the obstacles they had to overcome during the production process, much of which included working on the fly; one group had to rewrite the script when a member fell ill on a filming day.

C.A.S.E.

There is always something new and exciting going on at Shawnigan Lake School, and for our Communications, Arts, Sciences and Entrepreneurship (C.A.S.E.) program, which encourages innovation in the Applied Arts, that couldn’t ring more true after two new purchases made possible by C.A.S.E. donors and the Bradley Family Foundation. A new white toner transfer printer, as well as a plotter printer, have been put to the test by our students with great results. The white toner transfer printer allows the Digital Arts students to take their artwork and print it onto T-shirts and Hoodies. It has provided the students with extra motivation resulting in better and more thoughtful artwork as well as a physical medium in which to display their designs. Graphic Arts inherently tend to stay digital, and this new printer has meant the students have a fun way of bringing their designs to life for others to enjoy too.

Shawnigan Hosts the VEX Robotics Island Regional Championships

The Shawnigan Robotics team finished up a great season at the VEX Robotics Island Regional Provincial Championships on Saturday, March 5, hosted here on the Shawnigan campus. Top robots from across the island gathered in the new gym and battled for four berths in the VEX Robotics World Championships, taking place in Texas this summer. The four berths were awarded to teams and their robots in the categories of Excellence and Design, with two spots also given to the Tournament Champions. Our teams fought hard and all made it to the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated in close matches. One Shawnigan team posted the fourth-highest score in the province for individual skills challenges and another team posted the sixth-highest provincial score for skills. This is a huge accomplishment as they have seen great progress year over year.

SOUL-ar System

With our rural setting and low light pollution, Shawnigan is an ideal place for stargazing. Throughout the school year, our students have many opportunities to use our on-campus research-grade observatory. Although the School shifted to online learning at the end of March, Head of Science Nigel Mayes and Grade 11 student Keely R. have kept the program alive by guiding our community through remote operation of our own observatory as well as creating opportunities to take control of telescopes abroad – including the Faulkes Telescope Network in Hawaii and the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.