Farewell to Hamber’s Old Mini schools
Katja Radovic-Jonsson
When this year’s Grade 12s graduate in June, two Hamber programs will be graduating with them. Four years ago, the Challenge and Studio mini schools merged to form Challenge Studio. Come June 2022, the last students from the old programs will be gone.
In Challenge, accelerated classes were offered for Math, Science, English, and Social Studies. Students could be accepted to any combination of the four subjects. In Studio, a cohort of one class per grade took English, Social Studies, an ADST, and a critical thinking course together. Studio also placed greater importance on unconventional and less structured learning styles.
Ms. M. Poon (English) has been the program head of Challenge Studio for the past four years. Before that, she taught Challenge English. In 2018, when the previous Studio program head left the school, Ms. Poon took over. That year, the Vancouver School Board decided that only one program would run at Hamber, so Ms. Poon worked to design something new.
“I decided to take elements of Studio and elements of Challenge, and just bring it together,” said Ms. Poon. Challenge Studio is structured similarly to Studio, with a cohort taking English, Social Studies, and critical thinking project-based courses together. According to her, the classes and teaching style are sometimes closer to Challenge, and students accepted into the program of- ten have a learning style more similar to Challenge students.
Current members of Challenge Studio don’t know all that much about their predecessors. When Austin Witter (10) was asked what he knew about the old programs, he replied, “not tons.”
“I’ve heard that Challenge was more academic focused and Studio is more project-based learning,” he said. For the most part, students who were part of the programs agreed.
Gloria Rahgozar (12), in Studio, answered, “It was really emphasized for us to think critically and work outside of what was required in the curriculum.” Judy Li (12), who took Challenge English, science, and social studies, said, “The impression I have is that Challenge is a little more academic.”
The Nest reached out to Eli Gaertner, a Hamber grad of 2021 who was in Studio. For them, being around like-minded people was the most valuable part of the program.
“I think the community aspect is honestly the most important. It’s nice to be in classes where the other people are also kind of weird, or don’t work well in the regular school system, or want to be challenged,” said Gaertner.
One major event for past Challenge and Studio students was a trip to Ashland, Oregon, to see the Shakespeare Festival. As well as being educational and enriching, it was one of the few events Challenge and Studio did together and a bonding experience for all students. Judy Li recalls it fondly.
“I remember everyone got along really well. There wasn’t really a distinction between who was in Studio and who was in Challenge,” said Judy. The combined Challenge Studio has yet to go on this particular trip due to the pandemic, but there’s still been plenty of program special events. Distinct from Studio, Ms. Poon has encouraged interactions between the cohorts in each grade.
“I would really like to have more cross-grade things”, says Ms. Poon, in regards to the current Challenge Studio. “I don’t really think [Studio was] all that cohesive.”
One such event is Challenge Studio games nights, something Austin Witter finds enjoyable.“We play games and socialize, and sometimes there’s events like trivia.”
The old programs may be leaving Hamber, but good memories and an enriched education will stay with students. Judy Li reflects, “I was able to meet all my friends there and it was just always really fun.”