June 24, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

I am pleased to write a letter of recognition for the film program on Galiano Island. I had the opportunity to bring my grade 7 Fine Arts class to an Intensive Media course for 6 days in May. I had researched ideas for a unique experience for my students for their graduating year. After hearing wonderful feedback about the GIFTS program I made contact with George, the director of the GIFTS program. From our first exchange I was impressed with his commitment to provide a rich and authentic filming experience for my students. They supplied a very detailed agenda for our planned camping experience, which included a full day workshop led by a professional scriptwriter in our school prior to our departure. My students left to Galiano with scripts in hand. Each day was filled with workshops, activities and guided instruction.

Our entire stay at GIFTS was beautifully executed. The mentors who worked with the students were outstanding. My students developed meaningful relationships with each mentor who was able to share incredible knowledge of how to develop, film and edit films with my students. They were very capable with handling a variety of student’s needs, showing each one, attention, humour, and compassion while encouraging every student to attain success.

My students now speak of viewing film with a critical eye. They are interesting in exploring their developing skills as film makers and a number of students plan to return to GIFTS for the summer program.

As an educator I was highly impressed with the structure to their program and their expertise. This was truly a life changing experience for my students. Each reported incredibly positive feedback of their film making adventure. The setting is lovely, the food is incredible and the program allows each student to be part of all aspects of creating their film. We held a highly successful film viewing night for families and friend upon our return to White Rock. I certainly would return to GIFTS with another group of students and would highly recommend this program to other educators.

Sincerely,
Catherine Hanna
Grade 7 Teacher
White Rock Elementary School

August 25th, 2010

Re: White Rock Elementary Trip to G.I.F.T.S.

Dear George,

I am writing to thank you for the wonderful experience we all had in May 2010 when we brought the grade 7 Fine Arts class from White Rock Elementary to your facility. The children have all returned home with wonderful memories of their time on Galiano and stories that they will be sharing with friends for years.

At the end of the school year I asked the students to write down what their most memorable experiences were during their 7 years at White Rock Elementary and over a third of the class listed the trip to G.I.F.T.S. as one of their favourites. As a chaperone for the trip I found everything to be well organized and very comfortable in a rustic way. Having 4 chaperones with our group made everything easy for us and given the level of enthusiasm of our students, this was a good balance. I knew in advance the sleeping arrangements and what facilities were available and we came prepared to rough it a bit, but everything went so smoothly, the food was superb, and the staff so amazing, that the whole experience was memorable for all the right reasons.

I would recommend a trip to G.I.F.T.S. for any school class like ours. It was an experience that I, and the students, will treasure for the rest of our lives.

Best Regards,

Mark Fester
Supervising Parent

My Experience at Gifts

By Isaac Giuricich

In grade 7 our class went to The Gulf Islands Film and Television School. When we got there we were all so impressed with the school. We had the best time on a field trip ever! The food is really excellent, and the people are very nice and helpful. We learned how to write a script, use the cameras with sound and lighting, and how to edit our films and they turned out great. We had such an awesome experience at Gifts that I decided to go back a second time to take another course. I loved it so much that I interned there, It has completely changed my life. The Gulf Islands Film and Television School is the place to be!