welcome to NBCCD--where awesome creative mischief happens

The south-east corner of NBCCD as photographed by me in the Fall of '09, and processed today (yay for selective colour!)

Dear FVA Class of 2012:

Orientation Day is nine days away. If you're starting to freak out right about now, I understand--I've been there. Two years ago (Class of '10, yep!). But you will get through this year, and you'll survive to tell the tale. Some of you will drop out before Christmas Break, some of you will drop out at Christmas Break, some of you will drop out in the second semester. But some of you will survive and graduate with your certificate in Foundation Visual Arts. And you'll breathe a sigh of relief that it's all over. And some of you will apply to the diploma program (psst--photography's awesome!).

I'll probably be writing a letter about this when the time comes, but what they say is true: panel assessment is no. big. deal. But even with all my teachers telling me that, I was nervous the first time around, and so was everyone else in my year. And so were all the FVA students last year. So it's totally normal to get nervous about it.

But while FVA year can be stressful, it's also incredibly rewarding: you'll learn a ton, you'll (hopefully) figure out "what you want to do when you grow up", or change your mind about your future career plans (that's what Media Explorations is for). You'll meet and befriend diploma students, a lot of whom went through the very same things you're going through. You'll be pushed and challenged by your teachers, and your ideas about art, creativity, and what the two are could very well change. You'll be stressed out more than once (hint: watch out for the third week in both semesters. It can be brutal.).

Bonus: you guys get the whole school to yourselves for a week. That's right: A WEEK! We diploma students (two-year, and Advanced Diploma) start class the day after Labour Day. See ya then!

And I can't wait to see the numbers this year: my FVA class had sixty-one students at the beginning of the year; last year the figure had jumped to eighty-five. Who knows--maybe this year we could have an FVA class of, oh, I dunno, A HUNDRED?! Keep your eyes on the newsletter!

Love, good luck and see ya soon,
Annapurna Moffatt
FVA Class of 2010, Photography Diploma Class of 2012