Greenwood’s Dillon Smith will be graduating from BCSS this year and plans to head to either the University of Waterloo or UBC Vancouver for a degree in mathematics or commerce.
This fall he’ll begin his post-secondary studies and he is hoping to get a co-op position for future summer employment. Co-op is work placement in a specific field of study so that students gain practical as well as academic knowledge.
Over the past two summers he worked as a lifeguard at the Greenwood pool and plans to do another summer there again before heading to university.
Dillon began swimming at an early age. His mother enrolled him in his first swimming lesson when he was in Kindergarten. He realized early on that there weren’t many jobs available in a small town like Greenwood so he took advantage as opportunities to get the necessary certificates and training came along.
Dillon has also played hockey his whole life and in Grade 8 he played rep hockey in Midway for two years with the Kettle Valley Express. For the next two years he played rep in Grand Forks and now he is playing midget rep hockey in Osoyoos.
His academic achievement has been recognized through having his name on the Principal’s Honour Roll all through high school (straight As).
He grew up in Greenwood, living his whole live in the same house on the family farm.
He’s a member of the BCSS Spirit Club and has been on student council since Grade 9 – now holding office as vice-president and secretary.
Along with Daniel Hoskins, Dillon set up intramural sports activities at BCSS that got the rest of the school active during their breaks.
Dillon says he’s matured a lot since Grade 8. “I am focused a lot more on the future – basically the last two years I’ve been looking at what I want to do for a career. I also started doing a lot more around the school through Spirit Club, student council and Leadership Class.”
In fact, student council was about to send the balloon up for a school dance the night following his grad transitions exit interview.
Dillon said he began to think that his career might involve numbers back in Grade 7. “My idea was to be an accountant but through Grade 8, 9 and 10, I thought I might be an engineer, although I still want to go into management after I’ve been an engineer after 10 years.”
But now he’s decided that math and finance is where his post-secondary life will take him. He’s taken the University of Waterloo math contest twice and received the best score in the school in both Grades 9 and 11. Last year he was recognized for being in the top 25 per cent of those who wrote nationally.
Dillon says that he’s found the teachers are more fun now that he’s in Grade 12 and he singled out teacher Cam Spelay for special thanks for the help and encouragement he has given.
He says his favourite class while at BCSS was Calculus 12. If, as Confucius said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” then the future looks bright indeed for Dillon Smith – member of the BCSS Class of 2013.