Dance to succeed
Kinkora student will use lucrative scholarship to pursue dance education
Bronwyn Roberts, 18, of Kinkora High School awarded a $70,000 TD Scholarship for Community Leadeship.
Bronwyn Roberts has always been about dancing for a cause, not for applause.
The 18-year-old Kinkora Regional High School student has been dancing since the age of four.
She is quite accomplished, having reached the London, England-based Royal Academy of Dance’s second highest level. However, she is not looking to dazzle audiences. Rather, she wants to help dance have meaning in the lives of others.
“I have no interest in performing… It’s just never been for me,” says Roberts.
“I get more out of choreographing, seeing others do well.” To that end, when she was in Grade 7 she started a dance club for students in Grades 3 to 8 at Somerset Elementary School. She has run the program for the past six years with a selfless passion.
“I find it very important to have art representation in the school,’’ she explains.
“What the arts teach kids is confidence, discipline, creativity, determination, and self-expression… These are valuable traits.’’ Devoting time to make the lives of others better – she was also a leader and mentor at her local boys and girls club and in her church – has been rewarded in grand fashion.
She is one of only four students from Atlantic Canada – and among 20 from across Canada – to be awarded a TD Scholarship for Community Leadership.
Roberts will receive $70,000 towards her post-secondary education, in addition to summer employment, mentorship and networking opportunities. Learning of the impressive scholarship, she notes, unleashed waterworks.
“It was emotional – very exciting,’’ she says.
“I’m so grateful. It’s amazing.’’ Roberts has been accepted in the bachelor of fine arts in dance program at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
She plans five years of study in dance education at the university combined with Canada’s National Ballet School.
Roberts, not surprisingly, plans to continue to make dancing about others.
Dance education and dance therapy are her career focus. Running the dance program at Somerset Elementary has been an amazing experience helping to drive her desire to play a strong role in promoting dance.
“It’s shown me what I want to do,’’ she says.
“I see what the kids get out of it… I want to make the arts accessible to everyone.’’