For thousands of years, modern-day British Columbia has been the home for a large number of First Nations. From the isolated communities in Haida to the Nations in the Okanagan; the diversity of the First Peoples is a unique trait of BC. British Columbia is an amazing place full of wonder and beauty. The geographic and cultural history alone is fascinating; you could fill years upon years of learning and interest. In this years spring exhibition our challenge was to create an experience of BC convincing people of the power of British Columbian experiences.
The Exhibition
Before the big night, there was a lot of preparation that allowed us to succeed. Our class experienced a comparable challenge to creating a space in the winter exhibition. However, this exhibition there was a much more complex challenge ahead of our class. We had to not only create a space that emulated the beauty of British Columbia, but we also had to create 4 different themes that could connect our topics. From there we had to mold our individual spaces into the quadrants theme as well as the overall theme of the room.
My Quadrant
My quadrant was centered around local engagements and my group consisted of Adlih, Tamara, and Maggie. Our group was a collection of rather different projects because of the broadness of the connections between our topics. Mine was focused around the first peoples whereas Adlih’s was focused on the ports of BC.
Likewise, Tamara’s and Maggie’s project had similar disparities between them. These challenges made it very challenging to make a meaningful theme. In the end, we choose to run the with local engagements, expressing it by creating a road represents Gallant avenue. This road was supported by signs that painted the image of the homey Deep Cove community.
As I look back after the exhibition I realize that my group’s quadrant did not totally reach the desired effect on our audience. One reason for this could be the lack of a complete theme through the entire quadrant. Our original plan was very grand, and like the majority of exhibition plans, unattainable. We were planning to create an experience completely replicating Gallant Avenue; including store signs and street lights. As we neared the exhibition it became clear that many of these were too much of a challenge to overcome so we either improvised or omitted them entirely. Overall, I think our quadrant had a collection of high quality of high-quality exhibits but I felt it lacked the strong theme to push it into greatness.
Our Room
Our room was a collection of artifacts all outlining different experiences, events, and issues in BC. As I spoke of earlier, the room was split into 4 different quadrants. In order to make the room consistent, we planned as a group; creating diagrams that would include the locations of our exhibits. We also created a rough floor plan so that we could gauge an idea for the flow of the room.
In order to my quadrant to be compatible with the room, we contributed the roadway that moved through our quadrant to show the flow of the room. To add we continued to show the theme of British Columbia with Green decor. Even my personal exhibit showed off the greenery that makes British Columbia such a great place.
The centerpiece of our experience was the tree of life. It was a representation of the importance of all the trees (cedar in particular) to the British Columbian communities
Our room was a creation that I am very proud of. After talking to my parents after the exhibition night, it became clear that they thought that our room had the best theme. In my brief walkabouts in the exhibition, I agreed with that judgment. I could nitpick some details in our room but in the short time we had to create a great experience, but I am very happy with the result.
My Exhibit
Creating a good theme and an inviting area is always so essential to an exhibition but ultimately it is the presentations that determine the quality of the night. I have always put a very high priority on the creation of quality presentations. I believe that it is much more important to be able to talk to people about your topic and artifact than to create an overwhelming display. In this year’s artifact, I felt I had 2 of the best worlds, a topic that I knew well and a collection of displays that can draw in viewers and provide enough talking points to keep my audience engaged.
How can you convince your neighbour that their life is not complete until they’ve experienced what you’ve experienced?
The goal of our artifact was to represent the answer to our driving question above. However, because I didn’t go on the trip, my challenge was more focused around highlighting local issues/events/experiences. For the exhibition, I created a unique interactive graphic that worked as a guide to the topics about the First Peoples. The graphic would be interactive because you could play labeled clips of the interview at the command of the viewer.
When I began the launch cycle I had zero clue what I was going to make at the exhibition. Once I spent some time brainstorming I eventually narrowed down my topic to the stories of the first peoples. My original plan was to narrow the focus of my interactive graphic down to Tsliel Waututh peoples stories in particular. Unfortunately, tight timelines and my procrastination made it so that I did not find an interviewee that could have a valid opinion on the topic of the Tsliel Waututh peoples. To avoid a large failure I reached out to my backup plan; Raven Caron. Raven is a member of the Ojibwe nation and is vocal about how important his First Peoples heritage is. We sat down and had a good conversation about the Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Once I put his interview into the graphic and created my artifact I knew that something more was needed to make my exhibit stand out from the crowd. I had been learning all about different important events in the First Peoples history in Canada. To remind or teach my audience I created 4 main pieces. The first of which is my visual interpretation of the First Peoples history beginning during colonization; it can be found on the corkboard on the left. I also created some short paragraphs about unceded territory the Nisga’a Nation, and a tribute to the unceded land that Seycove resides on.
The night after the exhibition I thought critically about how I could have improved my space to better promote interest from my audience. My main takeaway was that I had too many unrelated products to speak about one in a meaningful way. I found during the night it was easiest to focus on one of my topics, but doing so was hard because my plan was to meld all 4 together. Next exhibition, I am going to make it clear to myself how I am going to transition between each of the displays and topics. By doing this I will provide a better experience for all and will make it much easier to share my ideas.
The Seycove Homies
While many of my classmates were off circling BC, Morgan and I were working on our own set of challenges. In order to keep up with our classmates, we completed a few informative assignments. There were 3 main challenges that we focused on during that time.
The Book
The first of which was a book about the local story or place. In the book, I had to explain the importance of its history and tell a story that is interesting.
When I created the book I was very impressed with the way I branched out to create the book. I had never made a book in this style in pages before and I was pleasantly surprised with the way I applied my skills to create the book. The artwork and styles weren’t the only thing I was proud of because I was also very happy with the research I did into Stanley Park. I have always said I do my best work when I care about what I am doing and in creating this book I was genuinely interested in writing it
The Video
There is always one assignment that you look back on and wonder how you could possibly have completed such weak work. This unit the video was that weak piece of work.
I could go on for a very long time about what I could improve with this. For starters, I could have done a retake on the interview to get rid of the annoying sound in the background. I could improve the cohesiveness of the images with my talking points. If I had to choose one area of positive I could say the script and it isn’t like it was something I am super proud of.
The worst part of this creation was that my computer crashed and I lost the editable file of the video so it’ll be forever etched in time. Failure is a part of learning to be clear but this was an example of when there are so many errors it is hard to learn any lessons. I guess the biggest lesson is to manage my computer better so that it doesn’t crash.
The podcast
The podcast could be called the centerpiece project for the Seycove homies. We were given the challenge of promoting Seycove in a podcast. Our podcast had to include interviews, sound effects, and music, but most had to show our continually developing skills as a podcaster.
Before creating our podcast we had to plan how we’re going to make our podcast interesting. From the beginning, we were sure we wanted the interviews to be the focal points of our podcast. To make this happen we sought out 5 interviews; each one would be a representative of their respective field. They would explain why their fields are better at Seycove.
Their points would be molded with our interpretation in order to keep our points on par with those from our interviewees.
During the creation of our podcast, we learned the importance of consistent attendance to a productive podcast. During the 2 weeks while we were at the school, Morgan and I found ourselves away from the school too much to be successful. I have never had this lack of communication affect us the way it did during this podcast. Our contrasting visions led to a rather choppy and unbecoming first product. In the following week, we worked to make a more consistent theme and style and the result was quite positive.
This is a lesson that I can see being of value in all parts of my life. Communication is so important to all things in your life whether it work or more personal. If you are not on the same page as others, mistakes are bound to happen. I must put a much bigger focus on communication if I want to be successful.
Current Event Seminars
Saving one of my favorite parts of this unit for last, the current event seminars were a very interesting dive into the personal impacts of the actions of others in the world around me. The goal of this assignment was to have a productive discussion in the classroom, gain a deeper understanding of the world, and to connect your topic to one social studies 10’s big ideas.
In my seminar, I spoke about the proposed increase to the minimum working age in BC. To read the article that my seminar was centered around click this link. My presentation was handed off the audience so they could share their opinions on the topic. I guided the audience by providing discussion questions and by proving my own opinions when needed.
In other peoples seminars, I provided my opinions when I have something to say about a topic. In Daniel’s seminar about the abortion protests in Quebec, I chimed in when I thought about the goal of these protests and as we discussed their successfulness. In these discussions, I am happy to share my opinions with my peers because they are both accepting yet true to their own personal views.
This was the largest units of my life and it commanded the focus and commitment that I never needed before at school. When I was writing this post it is hard to believe how much I accomplished and how much I learned. It is hard to believe that we started this unit 2 months ago but when you look at all you created, you can only look back and be proud of what you have accomplished. I have learned so many lessons in this unit but one of the most important ones is how valuable the experiences outside my backyard are to my learning. It is easy to think that you have to go far to have a meaningful experience but in reality, you can learn so much in my home and native land, British Columbia.
