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Vancouver media/tech trip inspires Castlegar students

Students enthusiastically toured several company and educational sites
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Stanley Humphries students who recently visited Vancouver to learn about media and technology industries are seen outside Emily Carr University. Photo submitted

From May 5 to 8, 27 Grade 11 and 12 students from Stanley Humphries travelled to Vancouver to experience the media and technology industries first hand.

The students enthusiastically toured several company and educational sites during their trip and had the opportunity to not only see the work environments, but also connect with industry professionals, learning first hand about the what it is like to work in BC’s growing technology industry.

Students had the opportunity to do Q&A sessions with with software and game developers from Microsoft, visual effects and animation artists from Image Engine and Cinesite, and filmmaking from PeaceMaker Studios.

As well, students got a firsthand look at UBC engineering, the labyrinths of Vancouver Film School, and the grad show put on by Emily Carr University.

“I always knew that the film and technology industries were booming,” said Grade 12 student Amy Chang, “however, I never knew just how big they were in Canada [and] there was something very special about meeting people who’ve worked on the movies that I’ve gone to see in theaters. This trip gave me a deeper insight into the film industry and the different jobs with in it. One of the biggest takeaways for me, however, is that with hard work and perseverance comes opportunities for success.”

“Some major takeaways I got from the tech trip were how important collaborations with other people are and attaining soft skills for getting a job,” said Grade 11 student Simon Larocque.

“A lot of the studios and places we went to talked a lot about how important learning and having a positive mindset overrules hard skills when getting hired for a job. This is an important reminder not to have a big ego and always be open to new ideas. Continuing from this is how key putting your minds together is to solving problems.”

“Overall, we had a fantastic trip with lots of learning,” said teacher Riston Turner. “We would like to thank all of the companies and institutions for opening their doors to us and being so accommodating. A big thank you to Mark Laver, Castlegar economic manager, for helping to support the trip financially. We hope that we can do it again in the future.”