Judging at the Regional Heritage Fair

Enthusiasm
and skills come together in
creative projects

~ carliewired

I was asked to be a judge at the Regional Heritage Fair. I came by this invitation as I am a member of our city's Heritage Commission. Since my own kids have been participants in this fair, I have something of a personal interest in this annual event in our school district.

The scope of a student's project is quite wide. It needs to be a Canadian topic. It may be historical or present day. The topic needs to be researched and the student is also interviewed about their chosen topic. Most projects are presented visually with information displayed on a project board. In addition, the student may include some three dimensional items and they may also dress in costume to augment their project.

This afternoon, we, the judges gathered at the resource center for some instruction in judging and for a quick dinner. At 6 PM the judging began. We worked in pairs, first examining an individual project with a set criterion. Then, the student was invited into the projects room to be interviewed about their work. Each project received a score which was handed into the organizers. Each student received written feedback from their two judges.

The best part of the whole endeavour was talking to the students about their projects. I must applaud the efforts they go to just gathering up the information. I am so impressed with the level of expertise each develops on their topic. Their enthusiasm is contagious!