Burnaby South Secondary School has several unique programs, one of them is the Rebels Media Program.
History
Rebels Media started in 1995 when the then “new” Burnaby South building was open. The school building was planned and built with close circuit broadcasting capabilities, having TV in each classroom as well as in the hallways, and in student common areas (the cafeteria, theatre hallway and lobby). It was formally known as Rebel Alliance Television and for over two decades provides students with the opportunity to use technology on a daily basis, both in an audio and video capacity, further allowing them to gain valuable experience and propel their future career.
For the past several years, the media program has been undergoing active development, increasing not only the student enrollment but also the variety of areas of study, not only widening students’ opportunities, such as Video Production and Animation, but adding also multiple Computing stream courses as Game Design and of course AP CS A and AP CS Principles.
The newest addition to the media program is the Technology Leadership class, where students work to pursue a specific research interest, such as developing games, multiple programming languages, building web sites, filming special events, producing special request videos, or participating in province-wide festivals and contests.
Many students go on to graduate from our program and continue on a career path building on the experience they acquired at Burnaby South. In the media program specifically, we have had multiple full scholarships for the Vancouver Film School, CG Master Academy and other post secondaries for more than $ 100 000 in value.
Our students have also been recognized with awards at the BC Student Film Festival. Last school year we won Samsung Canada Wide Competition “Solve for Tomorrow” along with some equipment for our students.
Rebels Media Program has two STREAMS:
#1 PROGRAMMING/COMPUTING
The computer programming stream is growing and evolving. It starts in Grade 10, but often grade 9 kids take grade 10 classes. There are three sub stream – Coding, Game Design and Web Page Design.
In Coding, studies learn the basics of hardware and networking, as well as intro programming concept such as variables, logic operators, loops, and functions using JavaScript. in text-based environment.
In Game Design students are introduced to the programming through making games. There are three levels of this course. This sub stream allows students to explore the intersection of visual art and programming in the creation of their own games.
Web Page Design is what the name suggests – making web pages and interactive applications. After initial introduction to HTML, students explore different web based applications, such as Word press.
AP Computer Science further develops student’s programming skills using JAVA language, which is also offered as a part of the AP program. Most colleges and universities in the USA and Canada recognize AP CS.
#2 DIGITAL MEDIA
The program was developed over the course of many years and at the moment includes four different levels with five streams. Interested students, starting in grade eight, can get involved in Media Arts Classes. In those classes, students get exposed to a variety of software applications, and have a chance to create various media projects using multiple artistic and technological mediums. Media Arts is a survey course which gives the students an opportunity to use different aspects of media production.
At the next level, Grade 10 and 11 students can choose from Digital Animation, Video Production and the aforementioned Broadcasting communication courses. If they are interested in completing more challenging assignments, the next level to choose is the Technology Leadership class.
This is the only program of its kind in all of BC, and many students come to Burnaby South for this reason alone, including international students form China, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, Malaysia, Japan and other countries around the world. It allows the students to use technology on a daily basis, both in an audio and video capacity, further allowing them to gain valuable experience and propel their future career.
We believe we have such as successful program because of three main reasons:
Collaboration and team work
We all three/four or five colleagues share our resources with each other and collaborate on projects and curriculum development
Multi-sections and multi-age classes
We have two or three levels and /or different courses during the same time with same teacher in the same classroom. We didn’t wait to have 25 kids to run the course. Each student that express desire to take any or multiple classes, GOT enrolled in the course and in many cases takes a whole array of the courses we offer. All courses have similarities, but the curriculum does not overlap and each course has same curriculum, no matter who is teaching it.
Students based classroom environment
As many of the courses are Board Authorised, we ask students what is that they aim for learning and if possible try to modify it to their needs.
Rebels Media Studio
Mac Lab
Rebels Media Equipment Room
Rebels Media Portrait Studio
E133
B119
Rebels Media 