Vigilant Global Encourages Montreal Students and Creative Learning Programs

Jun 17, 2013 12:15 PM ET

ENCOURAGING STUDENTS AND CREATIVE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

Vigilant Global has always been outspoken about the cause that is closest to its heart; youth education. In Montreal youth education comes in several forms, many of which are underfunded. With FIRST robotics, Vigilant worked with high school students in a lower income area of Montreal at a school with a high-dropout rate.  Everyone at Vigilant felt that we’d made a difference in the community with the robotics program, which has lead us to look into other organisations with a similar purpose.

Perspectives I High School (part of the English Montreal School Board) is a school for teens between 13 and 16 years of age, who have a history of behavioural issues. The school provides a modified curriculum to push under-motivated students to achieve academic success. This curriculum allows for collaboration with external organizations such as the ArtSmarts program, which fosters special creative projects within the classroom to fulfill specific student needs rather than assign standardized assignments.

This year’s ArtSmarts project at Perspectives involved touring and interviewing the owners of some of Montreal’s most famous restaurants, followed by the production of a video documenting the project and a painted mural to capture the students’ experience.

Vigilant Global has decided to help sponsor the ArtSmarts project at Perspectives I for next year, in the hopes that creative endeavours such as this one will spark students’ interest and help them succeed in the areas they previously thought themselves incapable of succeeding. We believe that every child and teenager deserves a chance to be encouraged and to grow and excel, and we support the tailoring of learning environments to the needs of specific student groups. We would like to thank ArtSmarts and Perspectives I for contributing to the community, and we hope that our sponsorship will help make a difference for these students.