Kelowna student taking part in summer university program
A local high school student will be spending her summer learning about science, engineering, the arts and more as part of a prestigious university program.
Maddie Bishop, 16, was accepted into the Shad summer university program, which is a month-long Canadian summer enrichment program for highachieving high school students.
Bishop, a student at Studio 9 School of the Arts, was one of about 700 students who were accepted from over 2,000 applicants across Canada and around the world.
“I wrote about how the arts and technology can come together in a good way,” said Bishop of her application to the program.
The Shad program focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
Studio 9 School of the Arts is an independent school in Kelowna that focuses primarily on the arts.
“I mostly focus on the visual arts side of things and theatre,” said Bishop. “I really like doing the stage managing and the set painting and props and all the tech stuff.”
Bishop also enjoys science and is a member of the school's science club, which is going to the physics Olympics this week at UBC in Vancouver.
She is looking forward to combining her love of the arts and science through Shad.
“It will be really great, because we do a lot of arts here, and I haven't been able to do a lot of science,” said Bishop. “It would be cool to see them come together.”
The program takes place at 13 universities across Canada for the month of July.
Students were asked to rank which schools they would prefer to go to; Bishop is hoping for either Memorial University in Newfoundland or the University of British Columbia.
“I'm hoping to learn some leadership stuff, probably make some friends and have a good experience away from home,” she said. “Going away and seeing new places and different things will be really nice.
“I'm just really happy I got in and I get to do something really cool and big in my high school years.”
Studio 9 CEO Michael Guzzi said Bishop is one of the most deserving people he can think of to be accepted into this program.
“She is extremely driven and extremely caring,” he said. “She's one of those well-rounded people a lot of us want to be. This is a person who would really not only enjoy but benefit from being accepted in that course.”