Enriching the Student Experience

Generous gifts to the 2014-2015 Annual Fund improved the student experience in three areas, with the Athletics, Fine and Performing Arts and Program Development funds receiving more than $56,000 in additional support specifically targeted at aspects of the student experience.

 

Students benefitted in many ways from these gifts. The Program Development Fund supported a number of important core academic purchases such as library books, subscriptions to databases, academic journals and magazines and Library infrastructure upgrades.

 

Science courses also benefitted with supplies including pigs and frogs for dissection, chemicals for experiments, and beakers, flasks and scalpels.

 

“It’s amazing working here,” explains one of our senior Science teachers, Mr. Ramirez. “Because the resources are always available, I can be creative and prep labs with variety. That keeps the girls engaged with the content and material. I can make science exciting!”

 

In Athletics, funds were spent to support subsidized travel and tournament fees with cross-country, field hockey, volleyball, basketball and swimming all sending teams to the Provincial Championships. Other benefits included sport-specific coaching support, soccer and basketball uniforms, soccer balls, field hockey balls and safety and first aid equipment.

 

 “The immense success of our teams is directly supported by a successful Annual Fund as it pays for the extraordinary costs associated with sending so many teams to provincials: transportation, accommodation, teachers [both attending and substitutes while they’re gone], tournament fees,” explains Mr. Ballard. On the extraordinary accomplishment of this year’s program, Ballard is almost emotional, commenting: “It never ceases to amaze me the dedication and commitment our athletes show. Our success this year is the reward for that commitment.”

 

Gifts towards the Fine & Performing Arts Fund provided a major subsidy for the LFA portion of the musical Beauty & the Beast, which was a huge success and a great opportunity to work with Vancouver College.

 

Even after splitting the costs with VC, a production of that quality runs a significant loss after tickets and inside-event fundraising. The Annual Fund directly enabled LFA’s share of the production, enriching the performance with the live orchestra, scale of the set, and facilitating staffing for a week-long, off-site production.

 

The Fund also benefited students by the purchase of new upgraded cameras, battery packs, a sound boom and new editing software for Film and Television. This was the result of a single large gift from last year, which allowed the school to invest in the tools for students to take their films to a higher level supporting the rich elective experience of Film and TV and its wildly popular Second Annual LFA Film Festival.

 

“With some amazing new technology at our disposal this year, the level of professional film making in the Film and TV department has greatly increased,” said Tara Diakow, adding that students completed some of their best work in the May Film Festival. “The new material has provided a great opportunity for students to learn about technology in the film and television industry, and to take chances and let their creativity grow."

 

Finally, our exceptional choir benefited from this fund with support for choir accompanists, subsidized competition fees and transportation costs, textbooks, tuning and upkeep of pianos and instruments.

 

In addition, other areas that received support included: facility rentals (swimming pool, fields, etc), track & field investment with starting blocks and a new high jump pit, art supplies and reference books and new textbooks for Law, French and Social Studies.