This year we are thrilled to have Seth Philion receive the inaugural  Joyce Brennan Youth Award. SFDCI staff nominated Seth Philion, in fact they stated that staff unanimously felt he was the most deserving of all the students for this Arts & Culture award. 

 

Seth is a very strong academic student, in fact, award winning. He excels in music and he continues to make wonderful contributions to the music program while being himself a most talented pianist.  He always is one of the first to become part of the school band and volunteers his talent in the school’s fundraiser cafe's and other music presentations. He is a recognized leader by his peers for his commitment and talent. In fact, not only does he volunteer to play at these events he continually encourages other students to get involved.

But there is more, Seth is incredibly passionate about his music, not only is he a talented classical pianist, he can also play more contemporary music, such as that of Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. But he does more than just learn to play pieces of music, he goes much deeper always doing in-depth studies into the history of the artists, whether the aforementioned “Frank” or “Dean” but also Mozart and other classical geniuses always wanting to know why they wrote a particular piece of music. He is consummate fan of Opera and is learning other instruments beside piano, such as French Horn to round out his repertoire. 

 

Seth is a strong public speaker and he tutors French to other students. Oh, and he is also an athlete, school football defence Captain. It’s easy to see why SFDCI staff chose to nominate this Grade 12 student for the Joyce Brennan award, for his positive contributions to the arts and culture of school and community and always being willing to share his artistic talent as well as actively working to broaden the artistic experiences of his peers.