Having graduated from Crofton House School just last year, Sienna Gibson ‘24 is making waves in university soccer with an impressive first season playing for the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds. She played a pivotal role in her team’s successful national championship title defence on November 10 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, earning the tournament Most Valuable Player award in her rookie season!

The national title capped off a surreal season for the Thunderbirds, who won every game in their regular season and swept all of their playoff games, setting a Canadian women’s collegiate record with a 20-0 season. 
 
Gibson had a standout performance during the T-Birds’ electrifying quarterfinal victory against the host, the Dalhousie Tigers, where she scored the opening goal and received Player of the Game honours—one of many highlights in a season where she scored five goals and provided four assists.

“It was quite the honour and probably a surprise for a first-year to be the player of the tournament. Sienna really came into the quarterfinal match and made her presence felt in the team, scored a great goal, and I felt like that catapulted us on our way to going and winning a national championship this year,” UBC Head Coach Jesse Symons said. “She performed exceptionally well in and out of possession, and to give that recognition was really well-deserved.”

An honour roll student at Crofton House, Gibson was a member of the Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite Academy team which won the 2023 League 1 BC Championship and the 2023 FIFA Blue Stars Tournament. She also played a pivotal role in various championships while playing for local club Fusion FC.

“Sienna’s been very successful with the Whitecaps and Fusion FC, winning many championships. So she has a mindset that we need in our environment: when it was a bigger game, she became a bigger player,” Symons said. “Even though she's an established top player, she's playing with and against a lot of players that are four or five years older than her. To me, that showed a lot of courage. She also really showcased mentorship and leadership within the team as, when things got more challenging in her season, she worked hard at things and actually got better.”
 
During her time at CHS, Gibson was an influential player on the varsity soccer team, fully committing to the program while balancing her external soccer engagements. She was the second-highest scorer at the provincial tournament last year. 
 
“She is an amazing central midfielder and was instrumental in helping CHS to their best-ever silver medal finish at provincials last year,” said Crofton Falcons soccer coach Mr Stringer, who is also the department head of Mathematics in the Senior School. “Most importantly, Sienna is always respectful to opponents and officials.”

Playing her university soccer close to home, Gibson’s family has enjoyed cheering Sienna on at Thunderbird Stadium, often joined by several dedicated Crofton House staff members!
 
“Sienna’s mother Yumiko and I are incredibly proud of Sienna’s accomplishments this year at UBC,” said Stephen Gibson, Sienna’s father, dedicated, long-time CHS community member and former Golf Committee member. “While it is challenging to balance athletics, academics, and living on campus, Sienna has managed it all very well, and the recognition of her hard work makes it all worthwhile. It’s so enjoyable to have her close to home so we can watch many of her games in person! We travelled across Canada during playoffs, and it was incredibly exciting to win the nationals in Halifax a couple of weeks ago. It was also great to see some of the Crofton House teachers at Thunderbird Stadium this season.”
 
Congratulations, Sienna, on your incredible rookie season with the Thunderbirds!

Do you know an alumna who has recently reached a new milestone or achieved something exciting? We’d love to celebrate their success! Share their story with us at advancement@croftonhouse.ca. 

Located at the centre of the Grade 1 to 7 classrooms, the Atrium is the heart of the Junior School community. This vibrant space fosters connections, whether during assemblies or interactions among friends between classes. Today, the corners of this space are alive with colour and creativity, as each pillar has been transformed through an artist-in-residence program featuring Canadian artist Sandeep Johal.

“The pillars make me feel happy and calm, and grateful that Sandeep was here!” Luna, Grade 2, said.

Artist Selection

Sandeep's artistic practice spans drawing, collage, textiles, and large-scale murals, all infused with an Indo-folk aesthetic. She has collaborated with various organizations, including the Vancouver Canucks and Lululemon, and has created various works around the city including a site-specific mural for the Vancouver Art Gallery's inaugural #SpotlightVanArtRental project in 2022.

Ms Harding, Program Coordinator, Grade 6-7, Junior School, and Ms Lim, Teacher, Art, Junior School, first discovered Sandeep’s work during her residency at St John’s School, where she painted another mural. 

“I hope Sandeep’s work starts everyone's day with a smile when they enter the Atrium. At our school, it brought so much life into our hallway,” Lauren Lam ‘16, and teacher at St John’s School, said.

Shortly thereafter, Sandeep was the keynote speaker at the BC Art Teachers Conference, an event both Crofton House teachers attended. Ms Harding had previously encountered Sandeep's work during the Vancouver Mural Festival and drew inspiration from it for a mural-style class project with students.

This was the first time since the pandemic that the Junior School has hosted an artist-in-residence. 

Concept & Inspiration

The Atrium was chosen for the project because of its prominence. As a central space for the day-to-day goings-on in the Junior School, students were able to see Sandeep working through each step of her process. 

“It’s really captivating! When you walk in there, you see this colourful array — it attracts your attention. The creativity of all the objects and shapes decorating or emboldening the pillars is inspiring. It motivates you, and keeps your day bright!” McKinley, Grade 6, said.

When considering ideas for the designs, Ms Harding and Ms Lim shared with Sandeep the deep connection students have with their school houses (robins, wrens, hummingbirds and swallows) and house colours (purple, blue, red and yellow). The final products celebrate the playful atmosphere of the School, and how important nature is to the community. 

“I was impressed with how Crofton House is settled within nature, and I wanted to bring that nature into the Atrium,” Sandeep explained. “I thought it was interesting how the pillars are divided up into houses with corresponding colours and corresponding birds, and I use a lot of birds in my work, particularly influenced by Madhubani folk art.”

The pillars are also heavily influenced by the tapestry work in each corner of the space, textiles created by artist and art teacher Mariana Frochtengarten, a previous artist-in-residence. This was the first project Sandeep had created with a monochromatic palette, to reflect those house-coloured tapestries.

Student Engagement

Students themselves helped shape the designs even further.

“When we introduced the project and Sandeep’s art style to each class, we honed in on how she thinks of art as powerful. We talked about her motifs and how she uses flora and fauna, and brainstormed with the students how to make those concepts fit in the Atrium. Many students said the house birds, of course, and ivy as a flora,” Ms Lim explained. Those ideas were translated into the project mock-ups, which are almost identical to what you see in the space today.

Throughout her time on campus, Sandeep further incorporated that playfulness and joyous energy within the school through the addition of insects and some faint smiley faces on each creature.
 

Most importantly, and uniquely, each student from Senior Kindergarten to Grade 7 had the opportunity to work with Sandeep throughout the process, whether in specific workshops with Sandeep or in their art classes. Using identical templates to Sandeep’s pillar images, students created their own house-specific bird designs. “I created some pattern handouts because I do a lot of geometrics and floral organic shapes in my work,” Sandeep said. “I made some examples, and then they got to tailor their birds to their own style and experiment with different patterns, lines and shapes.” 

The students’ house bird art pieces are being exhibited throughout the Beedie Fine Arts Centre and the Junior School in celebration of our community’s traditions, and Sandeep was able to capture the spirit of their work within the pillars themselves. 
 

Grade 5 and Grade 6 students also had the opportunity to help paint the murals. Sandeep painted the base layers and drew each design on the pillars; students were then invited to paint different areas of each one. This was the first time Sandeep had worked directly with students on an art piece in her career. “I couldn’t believe 100 students helped paint the mural,” Sandeep said. “The students were amazing; they were super into it and very diligent, wanting to do the best job they could possibly do. I was really impressed.”

Even Crofton House’s youngest students have engaged with the work, as the Junior Kindergarten classes visited the Atrium to see the pillars for themselves.

Last Impact

Now that the project is complete, the pillars will remain a pivotal, permanent piece of campus art. “They are really house corners now, which is an impactful thing,” Ms Harding said.

“It shows visitors that our school is welcoming, and we know that it shows how our school is meant to be a community where everybody boosts each other up, and where we can all fly,” Samara, Grade 6, said.

The project gives pause for reflection and celebration of student agency and each student's capacity to both engage in and influence a meaningful, impactful project. “I think with the students participating in painting the mural, there's a sense of agency, there's a sense of protection… you're more invested in something if you have had a hand in it,” Sandeep said.

The pillars are also a lasting reminder of an opportunity for students to see an artist work through their project from start to finish. “It was crazy to see it happen in real-time. It started as just base colours, and then there were so many details. It was just so amazing!” Natalie, Grade 6, said. 

“Seeing all the different stages of her process, and having Sandeep here throughout the school day for students to see— just watching an artist in action like that is something very unique,” Ms Harding said. “That’s a true artist in residence program: when students can watch the artist make their art, and then artists can come in and participate in the class in some way, or the students can go and participate in their work.”

Sandeep’s time in the Junior School was marked by an openness to share her journey, and the twists and turns to get to her art career. “Success comes in so many different ways, and it can happen throughout your life,” Ms Lim said. “There are also several students who have mentioned how proud they are to see an artist of their own culture here too, and using her cultural influences in her art. It makes them so happy to see it.”

“My favourite part of the project was being in the presence of Sandeep, a real artist. It's like being in the presence of Leonardo Da Vinci,” McKinley said.

“I learned that it helps to keep still when you hold your brush!” Luna said. 

As CHS continues to evolve and flourish, the pillars will continue to be a remarkable reminder of the all-important sense of community and citizenship that helps define the school.

“It’s such a big change. Where before it was just the white colours, now it feels warm and inviting and spirited. It’s really showing the pride in the houses,” Lauren ‘16 said. “Crofton House is really about coming together as a group, so I think it really ties all those pieces together.”

“We contributed to the Junior School, and I think that's just so creative of Sandeep to have us be part of this, but also Ms Harding and Ms Lim for bringing this opportunity to school,” Samara said. “Having a part to do, that was probably the most exciting, because it feels like you're putting a stroke on that wall, and that'll be there for a long time. When I graduate, or whenever I leave, it'll be fun to look back at that.”

 

Earlier this fall, students celebrated the success of various co-curricular activities on campus at a Senior School assembly—one of which was a national title for the CHS Chamber Choir!

After a whirlwind spring schedule that included a trip to Carnegie Hall in April, the CHS Chamber Choir capped off their 2023-2024 performances with a recorded submission to the prestigious MusicFest Canada - The Nationals competition — and took home Gold in the High School/Contemporary Division.

Held each year in May, the competition brings together over 7,000 young musicians, performing for recognition as one of the country’s foremost musical ensembles. It is North America’s largest annual event dedicated to young musicians.

“It felt very good to be able to achieve that,” Grade 12 student Samantha said of the award. “I've been in choir for so long that it just feels nice to have some sort of token of our hard work.”

Grade 12 student Emily also received an Honour Award at the event. “I did not expect that, but it felt really great both for the individual recognition and also recognition as a group—how much we have achieved. In this whole journey, what I love the most is actually being able to sing with others and being able to learn from other people,” she said. 

The CHS choirs are no strangers to MusicFest, having participated in the past through both the Junior and Senior Schools. Despite not attending the event in person, they submitted a recording of three songs they had been working on throughout the year, some of which were performed at the Carol Service in December and all performed at Carnegie Hall in the spring in a show featuring co-ed choirs from across the United States: 

• Children, Go Where I Send Thee by Kevin Phillip Johnson
• Abendlied by Josef Rheinberger 
• Joy by Hans Bridger Heruth

The process itself was an intensive learning experience for the students, who had to adjust to new arrangements for each piece given their shift back to performing as an individual group post-Carnegie Hall. “We came out of recording sessions stronger as a choir, trying to work on so many small things, because the recording is expected to be at a higher level given the chance for multiple takes. Just being with everybody during that process was really great,” Samantha said.

“It was also really great to have Ms Hartley [Teacher, Music, Senior School] leading us through all the different repertoire that we were singing. And getting to record in the auditorium—a theatre—it feels pretty surreal,” Grade 12 student Emily echoed. 

Ms Hartley also noted the difference in maturity of the performance and engagement of the singers from Carol Service to the MusicFest recording. "Because they had sat with the pieces for several months, they embodied them, got a glimpse of what it feels like to perform pieces several times, and see how songs become their own living entity.”

For both Ms Hartley and the Grade 12 students, the MusicFest recognition is a pertinent culmination of the work they have done as a deeply connected community within the Chamber Choir.

“Ms Hartley has often said that vocal techniques are a reflection of what the choir has been working on the entirety of year in school—and we have bonded so much musically and as a community through rehearsals, sectionals, small group practices, which have all been productive musically and has been great for talking to people in other grades and becoming friends,” Emily said.

“It was great to get a gold standard and have Crofton House on the map in a nationals competition, but more importantly, we have students who are what I consider to be, now, real choral musicians in the true sense of the term,” Ms Hartley said. “It’s a group that has experienced the beauty of the connections and the relationships built through choir. When you're doing something vulnerable, like singing and singing in harmony with someone else, it creates such a safe place—and so it becomes a family, in a way.”