Grade 10 Personal Project Exhibition 2024

The Grade 10 Personal Project Exhibition is the ultimate showcasing of the students’ projects.

This year, there were a variety of projects at the exhibition, including photography, sewing masterpieces, art designs, how-to guides on every topic you can imagine, coding games, inventions and much more.

The morning started with Grade 10s frantically preparing for the exhibition: last-minute posters were being completed between classes and even in classes, papers and material were still being printed, and parents were being called to deliver products and Number One Dress uniforms. Ms. Drury was a Personal Project superhero for helping students print out material. If she had a penny for every paper she helped print today, she would be rich!

The Grade 5s were the first visitors and they flocked to stations in groups of three. Their urgency to fill out a Personal Project bingo form had them rushing to find the biggest products, a social justice project, a technology-based project, and more. My personal project, which was learning how to identify flowers and then creating an informational flower book to showcase the unique stories and journey of the flowers, was often labelled as “environmental sciences.” It was not entirely accurate but I decided that their excitement at being able to complete the form was of greater importance to such a minor detail and signed my name. Plus, it’s not often one gets to autograph a bingo form! Ms Elbert was happy they felt so passionately about the presentations they visited, and intrigued by how they chose to categorize what they experienced: the Grade 5s have taught us that a project can be viewed from different angles by different audiences!

The Grade 6s were also thrilled to visit, with generous permission from their teachers, and afterwards reflected on how this event was similar to their work in the Grade 5 Exhibition which is the capstone project of the Primary Years Programme. They also had some sticky-notes of congratulations for the Grade 10s, which went on display in the library:

• To all Grade 10s, I think that all the projects were really cool and inspiring. If you guys liked what you were doing, I think it would be really fun to keep sharing it with others. You people should all be proud of your work!
• To the girl who made the magazine, Thank you for your hard work. Your project was by far my favourite. You really inspired me from your project and that you were a Swiftie.
• I really liked the octopus you made. I could never have done that!
• To the project on carbon capture: I loved the project and I hope that someday it goes to public.
• I think you did a very nice job of your crochet! I love crocheting but I know it’s very hard. I admire your confidence and patience and it definitely paid off!
• The projects took a lot of persevering.
• I think the cosplay making one was really cool! The dress she made was really cute. I’d totally wear it for a day. Plus, it really inspired me because I’ve alway wanted to know how to make my own costumes!
• You did amazing! Your projects all had a great flair that made it different from others! Congratulations! You all did a great job and should be very proud!
• Grade 10s you are all so amazing! The projects were all great. I look forward to doing this project when I am in Grade 10.

Parents and other Senior School students were also invited to attend the Personal Project Exhibition. It is easy to get lost or sidetracked when there are so many projects on display, but using Exhibition maps our visitors were able to: roll down Up-Cycle Path (with its sustainable sewing projects), cut through Architecture Alley to Science Speedway and Technology Terrace before strolling Artist’s Avenue toward Maker’s Market, and finally taking Wellness Way towards the ‘food court’ full of cooking projects (and a few tasty treats). After navigating this impressive display, everyone was invited to nominate students for awards and write a note to the Grade 10s. As one community visitor put it, “I think the breadth of projects was truly impressive.” Another commented, “It was a pleasure to see projects truly driven by the students.” Perhaps the best summary of the community response is this:

“I’ve not voted for individuals because, without exception, I was amazed at how well EVERYONE did. The projects were all well thought out, every student with whom I spoke was passionate about their project and—most of all—I was struck by how confident these students are in presenting and interacting with those of us who attended and spoke with them. They’ve the poise of adults twice their age, and I was extremely impressed with them all. WAY TO GO GNS STUDENTS—you are exceptional, truly 👍”

Everyone had a good time showcasing their project and admiring other students’ projects. The food projects got their fair share of attention and Mateo Garciduenas Morales’ ceviche ran out. We all applauded for Kerry Ning and Judy Su’s busking, and Duncan Marshall’s bagpipes in the live performance room! Young and old marvelled at Owen Nozick’s Lego car and took a turn colouring in Kate Marriette’s Springtime Favourites colouring book, and the Grade 12s made sure to visit Leir Peng’s presentation on “How to Get a Good Quality Sleep.” Polina Skrigitil ’24 and Rachel Baumgartner ’24 nodded solemnly, saying, “We need this information.”

Zax Zhang ’26 had words of advice for next year’s Grade 10s: “Keep striving towards your goals and you will always achieve them.” When asked what she would do differently, Zax said, “I want to explore something different, because there are lots of different fun things waiting for me to discover.”

“Have something for people to be involved in, whether just to hold, touch or do,” advised Reese Suntok ’26, “because it will make their experience more engaging and interesting.”

“Find out what you want to do early on,” was Clio Milwright’s ’26 piece of advice. “I know that I was indecisive with what I wanted to research until about December, and this really slowed down my research process. The buildup of materials when you do not follow a timeline or when you don’t know what you’re doing can get quite extreme, so they should make sure to stay on top of everything.”

“Pick a project that you are passionate about!” said Kate Marriette ’26. “If you enjoy what you are doing, the whole project becomes much easier because you are motivated to keep working.”

The Personal Project will wrap up with the final report as well as an assembly to announce the winners of the community-nominated awards, and those selected to advance to the BCAIBWS Personal Project Showcase, which is an opportunity for students to travel to Vancouver to share their projects and explore other projects from other IB schools from the west coast.