Exciting Opportunity for Tyler

Tyler has successfully completed his third year in the animation program at Loyalist College and while not all of the marks are in, he's received well over 90% in the ones that are.  In addition to this, his professors have selected him to showcase his work in the Student Showcase section at  DIGIFEST in Toronto.  (Digifest is an international digital festival which takes place in Toronto)

A bit about the student showcase part from their website:

"Come see the best digital projects from across the province and abroad!

From May 8th to 10th, Digifest will be hosting the "Best of the Best" Student Showcase ....
 Come by this free event to see the incredible work being done by tomorrow's leading designers, artists, developers and innovators.

40 projects from 13 post-secondary institutions will be on display for 3 days only.  The Student Showcase will feature the best student works selected by their schools under the categories of Integrated Media, Social Innovation, Animation and Moving Image, Interaction and Gaming, Visual Art and Design and Beyond the Screen.  This unique exhibit brings together under one room the most exciting cross-disciplinary student work in Ontario, and you won't want to miss it!"
(Above excerpt copied from here:  http://www.torontodigifest.ca/2014/student-showcase/

~~ and ~~

"How does it work?

1)  Each participating school will select the top projects from the graduating class to be juried during Digifest.

.....

5)    Those exhibiting their work will have the unique opportunity to speak to festival attendees about their project.  A jury of industry professionals will choose the "best" project from each category, which will be presented with an award at a ceremony ....."
(Above excerpt copied from here: http://www.torontodigifest.ca/2014/student-showcase-participants/ )


Complete info about Digifest 2014 available from their website:  http://www.torontodigifest.ca/2014/

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Tyler's animation film

Here is Tyler's final animation film / cartoon.   (It's best viewed on Full Screen Mode)


Expedition:Mars from Tyler Wescott on Vimeo.

After year three

Tyler is nearing the end of year three (final year) of his college program.   Here is the link to his website.  Once on his site, there are tabs along the top....be sure to check them all out!

Click here for Tyler's website

Well done, Tyler!

Tyler's Animation Project

In order for Tyler to complete second year at college, he needed to do an internship.  Three students from second year and a five from third year worked as a team to produce this 30 second animation for the Kingston, Ontario Police Force.  It was to have the look and feel of a video game.

Here is their finished product ---  (best viewed in full screen mode -- click on the "youtube" symbol in the lower right hand corner.  Once at youtube, click on the broken rectangle icon in the far right corner to bring it up to full screen)

Distracted Drivers

It's been awhile!

Thought I'd drop in and post and update, seeing as it has been almost a year since my last post.

 Tyler has now finished his second year of post secondary education. It's interesting to see the changes in him each time he comes home and we're more than proud of the person he is becoming.

 I remember our first year of homeschooling, he was starting grade five and Brittney grade three. We were only about one month into it, when we received in the mail, a hand-written letter from a very concerned relative. The tone was very condescending as she made quite clear her thoughts on how we were ruining our children by homeschooling. There was a bit of everything in there and all the usual (plus some) "concerns" about homeschooling were covered. I was still a bit nervous, even though I'd researched it for a whole year. One of the assurances from seasoned homeschoolers seemed to be, "the proof would be in the pudding". 

We now find ourselves at that point.

 Tyler completed his second year with an overall average of 89%, which included a final mark of 100% in one course. He is well-adjusted, very focused on his studies and has great social skills (the concerns of most people when they hear "Homeschooling".) He worked during his first year of college and on all of his breaks (Christmas and summer)in order to put himself through school.

 Brittney is doing equally as well. Her average is well over 90%, she is self-motivated as she completes her courses through distance and on her own. Weekends are spent working as she too saves for her next set of courses (which she will most likely go away for).

 Jake continues on at home and is also growing in areas he previously had difficulty with (ie... sitting still lol) 

I'm often tempted to write a letter of response to the well-meaning but misguided relative to let her know, all is well. Homeschooling didn't ruin them and is one of the best decisions we ever made.

Home again

Well...the first semester of college is over for Tyler and he made his way home for the Christmas break.

He was up at 4 a.m. in anticipation of his long day ahead. 6 a.m. saw him calling for a taxi, which took him to the train station. He took the train into Union Station (Toronto). From there, he caught a shuttle bus which took him to the Ferry. The Ferry took him to the Toronto Island Airport where he caught his plane home to St. John's (after stopping in Ottawa and Halifax).

It was a long day for all of us. The last day of the Farmers' Market for the season, meant it was a busy one. That was good as it distracted me from a day of total worry. I must admit though, I became one of those people who are constantly watching/using their Blackberry. He'd text me after he successfully made each connection. Not until he reached the Toronto Island Airport did he request I call him. Nothing major...just unsure what to do next.

Lots of brand new experiences for him as he's never flown before or had to maneuver around in Toronto on his own.

After the market was finished, we returned home for supper and to make his requested meal of macaroni and cheese. Brittney had spent some of her day making brownies for him.

After a quick on-line check of the flight status, it was finally time to head to the airport. As we waited we waited in the observation deck, we were able to see his plane land.

Jake eagerly (and I mean dancing around with great enthusiasm eagerly!!! ;)) awaited for his brother to appear. At around 7:00 a tired but relieved looking Tyler appeared at the gate. Jake ran and jumped into his brother's arms...almost knocking him to the ground.

Great to have you back, Ty!

Scholarship!

Tyler just got word today he's won a scholarship!

Congrats to Tyler....that homeschooled guy of mine ;)

Back to Blogging

It's been awhile...my poor neglected blog.

It's been a very busy, emotional couple of months. We were busy getting Tyler squared away for college. Preparing before we left home was lots of work, but there was even more work once we arrived there.

Before leaving home, Tyler indicated his church denomination of choice and we researched a church in the area. I made contact with them well before we left home, letting them know we'd be visiting with them and about Tyler living there for school etc. They were very nice in their response to me and were even nicer in person. Very welcoming and many "mothers" stopping to reassure me he'd be well taken care of. A few people offered rides each week and indicated they'd make sure he had a way there. He felt comfortable there right from the word go.

We spent a weekend in the city...looking around and getting him familiar with his new surroundings. We met for lunch with our very first piano teacher (who also now lives in that city).

The day we dropped him off, was a very emotional one for all of us. It's one thing to go to a new school, but when it's far away from home, it adds a whole new dimension.

It's been just over three weeks and aside from the usual settling in pains, he seems to be doing very well. He likes his classes, his professors, his class mates and his room mates. He's meeting people at the church and attending events there. One family in particular has been really nice to him....driving him to and from church each week and even treating him to lunch one Sunday after church.

He got 100% on his first Photoshop assignment (but claims it was the first one so the professor wasn't too tough on them...hmmm...)

He's made an oral presentation and feels comfortable with the job he did on that (takes after me ;) lol )

Here is his first 3D Modelling project (animation class). He says it's challenging but fun. (Click to enlarge)



Keep up the good work, Ty!

Off to College

Last week, Tyler learned he's been accepted into the program of his choice, so come the fall, he'll be heading off to college.

Way to go, Tyler! Congrats!!!

This means moving to another province (about 3000 kms away....not that I'm counting or anything).

A lot of mixed emotion at home, I must admit. Jake was quite upset at the thought of his big bother moving so far away. He expressed many thoughts about it as well, statements like:

"I like this family just the way it is and I don't want it to break apart."

and

"I'd rather be stupid and stay home than go away to college just so I can be smart."

After a lot of talks though, he's more accepting of the idea.

Tyler has worked hard to get to this point. Being a homeschooler, meant no "official high school transcript", which was a road block he had to work around.

The thing that goes against conventional thinking though, is his program of choice.

Animation.

That in itself is not unusual, but the fact he has ended up choosing this field, is. In our years of homeschooling, we covered the academic subjects: Math, English, Science, Chemistry, Physics, French, History/Geography/Social Studies and Music (through outside piano lessons). Phys. Ed. was covered through normal, everyday activities, like bike riding, walking, road hockey etc. We never, however, covered art. Never. Not one single class.

In the beginning, our work days started at 7:45 a.m. The deal was, when the day's book work is done, you're done for the day. This schedule usually translated into working until about 11:00, followed by lunch, practicing piano and then chores. That left the rest of the day "free" for them to explore something of their own interest. Some may think they would choose to spend this time watching tv or playing video games, but this was not an issue.

It was during this "free" time, Tyler developed an interest in cartooning. At first, he didn't tell us. He wasn't hiding it, he just didn't think it was a big deal. When I walked into his room one day though and saw all of them arranged over the bed....I was more than a bit surprised. There were several of them, all cartoon stories, all drawn, coloured and written by hand.

Here are some of his first cartoons... (click to enlarge)



From that point on, he'd use any spare time he had to work on his cartoons -- Holidays (he'd lug all of his materials from van to hotel room), while waiting for Brittney and Jake to complete their piano lessons, even some nights after lights were supposed to be out.

One time he showed his work to a professional artist and his comment was, "Wow, you're art teacher must be very impressed with your work." Wish I could take some credit, but I can't. Up until this point he's been all self-taught but that is about to change. He's looking forward to this next challenge and it's one we're certain he's up for.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler turns 18 today. The time has gone by so quickly. Seems like yesterday he was born...now he's finished high school, starting to do university courses, driving and working.

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It's off to work he goes.




Tyler got a job, working at Swiss Chalet as a dishwasher. Congrats, Ty!

I offered, out of the goodness of my heart, to let him wash all of our dishes...just for practice of course. You know...practice makes perfect, right? ;)

For some reason, he declined my offer ;) Oh well....I tried.

For Grandpa

Tyler and Grandpa have a thing going back and forth.

Grandpa thinks toques (hats worn by most people in the cold weather) should be worn in the winter (and even then it's questionable)

Tyler thinks toques are cool whenever (except in the really cool weather)

Tyler wanted me to take this picture especially for Grandpa .....