On Thursday 26 September, students voted for Marc Garneau’s 2013-2014 sweater designs in their home form classes. The winner of this year’s sweater design is Grade 10 student Vicky Xu.
Much thanks to all the candidates for their submissions. A total of seven designs were submitted to Student Council for screening. From Monday 23 September to Wednesday 25 September, the designs were posted around the school and on the SAC Facebook page.
The inspiration behind Vicky’s design was simple. “There were quite specific guidelines as to the words we were to use (MGCI and the year), and I knew I wanted a cougar for sure, and that was basically the design. You don’t want too many words, and you don’t want to overcrowd the words with too many pictures either, thus came my design. MGCI, 2013-2014, with a cougar.”
The other designs did not go unnoticed for their efforts. Vicky said “I really liked the variety there was because all the designs were so different and this gave the students a lot to choose from as to what they wanted. I thought everyone’s would end up pretty similar, but no, not at all! It’s pretty cool to see how creative and different everyone can be.”
Students have also commented of the contest this year. Zameer Bharwani, a Grade 12 student, said: “I really like a few of them. Definitely beats what we used to have last year and the whole thing engages people, so it’s fun.”
Nabeel Ahsen, SAC president, commented: “I think that it is amazing that we got these submissions. I feel that Arora, our External Affairs Officer, successfully held this contest in light of the overwhelming requests she had gotten last year for students to be allowed to submit their own designs. The sweater design that has been selected was submitted and democratically chosen by the students.”
Arora was rather pleased with the results of this contest. “I thought the designs were all very unique, and much effort went into the preparation of each. I definitely think all deserved a round of applause. The competition went well overall, though some last minute adjustments and several inevitable difficulties arose.”
Arora hopes to continue this tradition to encourage student involvement in building school spirit and give everyone a chance to have their say in decisions. “Student council will continue to encourage student participation in events and I look forward to seeing more events which may empower students to be held in the coming year.” Be on the lookout for this new design when sweater sales open in the near future.