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Seven Summits learners share passion projects

Wednesday night, Seven Summits hosted an event at the Old Fire Hall where learners gave short presentations on their ROPE projects.
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Learners in Grades 8 and 9 pose with some of their mentors and projects at the ROPE presentation event on Wednesday

After five months of hard work and some procrastination learners in Grades 8 and 9 presented their completed passion projects to the community.

On Wednesday night, the Seven Summits Centre for Learning hosted an event at the Old Fire Hall where learners gave short presentations regarding their Rite of Passage Experience or ROPE projects.

A ROPE project is an independent work experience that Grade 8 and 9 learners must complete each year. The project should be related to one of their personal passions, and they work with a community mentor to complete it.

The learners projects resulted in a number of creative endeavours: Ben Kroeker made a three-foot-long spoon and fork from cedar wood, Jasmine Drolet completed two paintings working with mentor Stephanie Gauvin, and Sam Finke designed his own Space Invader-style video game.

While some learners pursued areas where they already had some experience, others used the ROPE project as an opportunity to step outside their comfort zones.

Yasmin Evans, Grade 8, learned to play guitar over the five months of the project and played “Best Day of my Life” by American Authors as part of her presentation.

“Without the ROPE project I probably wouldn’t have actually thought of playing the guitar, because every other instrument I’ve tried to play has sort of, kind of failed,” she said. “I’m really happy with what I’ve been able to learn, and I’m really happy that I had enough courage to get up on the stage and sing a song.”

Those working in areas more familiar to them were still encouraged to push themselves.

Scarlet Guy, also Grade 8, wrote her first novel for the project and is currently looking for a publisher.

“On a regular basis I write a bunch of short stories, but I don’t think I would have had the courage to start writing a novel,” she said.

Asked if there’s anything she wished she’d done differently, Guy said, “I think I would have given myself a longer time frame and I definitely would have tried not to procrastinate as much.”

Many of the learners admitted during their presentations that they’d procrastinated and could have used their time more wisely. The ROPE projects are meant to teach learners time management and communication skills as much as anything, as they work to complete their projects by deadline and communicate with their mentors to get help.

During the evening, each learner also gave a shout out to their community mentor, thanking them for their time and guidance.