By Chi Yan Ng

On January 11th and 13th, 2023, Year 9 students attended the Oscars event to celebrate the end of their Memoirs in Motion unit. In this unit, the students wrote their memoirs as a prose graphic, poem or song lyric in English class, and then transformed them into a 3D stop-motion animation in Design class. The Oscars started with an opening speech by Sarah Lewis, secondary English teacher on behalf of the English department. Lewis explained that these memoirs, both written and filmed, allowed students and teachers to “truly travel” again.

“Story allowed us to safely levitate across borders, to move both forwards and backwards, to experience realms both imagined and remembered,” said Lewis.All students were reminded that each and every one of their memories is unique and special, but the most extraordinary memories are in their hearts and were in the room.

After the opening speech, some students volunteered to read an excerpt from their written memoir, which varied from student to student. Because each student wrote their memoirs in different ways, it was exciting for the audience to listen to different excerpts. Then, one by one, each English class teacher presented an Oscars trophy to an outstanding student. There were no hints given, therefore, whoever received the trophy was “shocked, surprised and gratified.”

An anonymous winner said, “I have spent quite a lot of time thinking about my memoir, so getting an award for it was extremely rewarding.” This moment for all winners will be a new memory that they will cherish for years and years to come, reminding them that one day, their effort, time and dedication will be rewarded.

After the English class teachers presented their awards, it was time to see who won the Design Oscars. Who created Year 9’s best stop-motion animation? Who wowed the teachers with their amazing skills and techniques? The layout for the Design Oscars was very similar to the English Oscars, with a word from Luc Crowther, Head of Design on behalf of the Design teachers, a few student examples, and then the awards. This time, however, students got to see the winners’ animations, and experience an Oscars nominated stop-motion film. Again, each students’ memory and memoir was different, and each showcased their hard work and dedication.

“I didn’t have any expectations of being picked as an Oscars winner, because there were so many nice little animations on the padlet that I felt were worthy,” said Elaine Law, a Design Oscars winner. The award was an added accomplishment for her, since she “would’ve still done my best in animating my story, and it would’ve still been worth it because I put my hard work into it.”

“The Oscars event was really exciting because I love to celebrate learning and allow students from different classes to get together. An IDU allows different subject teachers to collaborate and get involved, and teachers get to see students in different ways. It was really interesting to see students transform their written memoirs into films, as it expresses students’ creativity and personalities,” said Lewis.

This was a first-time event for the English and Design teachers. Lewis explained that “in my four years of teaching at RCHK, there was an Oscars event, but the two departments did it separately.” Obviously, larger events like this would have happened three years ago before the COVID-19 pandemic. The students are really grateful for the teachers' effort in this event, as it was so realistic with actual trophies. “It was a really long process to select the top written memoirs and films, because it was really difficult to decide who the best student was,” said Lewis.

Lewis has many suggestions and improvements for next year’s Year 9 Oscars ceremony: “Next year, I would love for all Year 9 students to gather in the PAC. Student MCs, a voting or even live voting element, and casual dressing would all be nice to demonstrate student involvement and participation. There were only a few memoir examples this year, and very little acceptance speeches for winners, because students had limited time to prepare them.” She would “love for the Oscars to continue as a Year 9 tradition, and hope that it will become an annual celebration for an even wider audience.” This is because celebrations help us to remember our learning experiences collectively. Lastly, she said that “school and learning should be fun, and we should celebrate events similar to this.”

In conclusion, the Oscars was a new event which will highlight the Year 9 students’ academic year. It was something exciting and an event that the students and teachers looked forward to this year. As Lewis said, it will hopefully become an annual tradition after the pandemic.