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On April 21st, grade 11 students from Crofton House, York House and St. George’s packed the prestigious Telus Gardens for a semi-formal Pre-Graduation celebration. There were two key students from Saints who put in relentless work to make the event possible. Jared Bakonyi and Chris Wells, have both curated the event since the start of the school year and the duo worked with other students from Crofton and York. Jared and Chris worked hard to make sure the school administration was happy with the direction of the event, as well as finding catering and organizing all the ticket sales. There were around 200 students who attended the event, 120 of those students being from St. George’s.

One of the best parts of Pre-Grad was the venue itself; Telus Gardens is one of the most celebrated and well-known buildings in Downtown Vancouver, as in 2015 it was named Vancouver’s greenest tower. Telus Gardens is a 22-storey, 450,000-square-foot giant right on the intersection of West Georgia and Seymour. The building was designed by Henriquez Partners Architects and over 1,000 Telus employees work in the building.

Upon arrival, Saint George’s students were greeted by their Head of Grade Mr. Tweedle and several Telus representatives. Before the Pre-grad celebration actually started, students were able to check out the fifth floor and observe the works of man who held a job title described as “dream-maker”; there was a showcase of brilliant and crazy technology that students had the opportunity to experience. This technology included things like moving robot machines, hoverboards, virtual reality goggles, and miniature drones. Students were also able to ask any questions about the technology as there were several representatives chaperoning the dazzling display of advanced machinery.

Onto the 23^rd floor, students made their way up a glowing set of spiraling stairs which eventually led to the balcony. On the balcony, students could see the efforts by Henriquez Partners Architects and their idea of making the building as “green” as possible; there were numerous solar panels hanging from the roof. Moreover, students were given a wonderful view of downtown Vancouver, which included an up-front view of Central Library. As the balcony extended around the whole floor, students were also able to catch the sunset and the mountains on the other side of the floor.

There were many other people not part of the school system who ensure that the night it was the best it can be. Firstly, DJ Kantaro did a fantastic job on the floor, as this was his 2^nd time DJ’ing a Saints Pre-Grad celebration. Furthermore, the catering did a fantastic job of attracting students; there were many types of candy and baked sweets that the students could eat. The candy varied from sour gummies to Coca-Cola gummies, to mind chocolates. There were over 25 different types of candy that students could try. There were also unique baked goods, including various delicious cookies. Finally, the entire night was captured by several photographers and an aerial drone. Ray Dong, Emre Alca and Sarah de Faye walked around during the night capturing students dancing, engaging in conversation, or just relaxing on the couches.

“It really was a pretty cool event. I thought all the technology on display was really fascinating because I’ve never used or experienced it before. As for the event for itself, the atmosphere was perfect, the music was great, and it all added up to a great event.”- Tom Sun