Sir John students win 12 of 15 Minister’s Medals

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Students at Yellowknife’s École Sir John Franklin High School have won 12 NWT Minister’s Medals for top exam marks across eight subjects.

The results from last year’s January and June Alberta Diploma Exams are in, and Sir John students cleaned house. As it takes some time to mark the exams, the list of top students across the NWT didn’t come out until the winter.

Madison Mobach, Riley Oldford, Lana Sanders, Léa Schwarz, Cooper McLeod, Alex Ketchum, Jillian French, Sebastian Pickles and Kaatje Fulford all scored top marks on their exams in core subjects ranging from English, social studies and French to chemistry, math, physics and biology. 

Some students, including Oldford, Ketchum and French, received two Minister’s Medals for their performance on multiple exams.

Mobach was also the winner of the Governor General’s Award, which is presented to the student with the highest academic average in their final two years of high school.

Peter Curran, an assistant vice president at Sir John who also teaches some English classes, said the diploma exams are “very difficult exams, and very fair and sound exams.”

Curran acknowledged that as the largest high school in the NWT, “the law of averages will tell you that we usually get some of these awards from year to year.”

Sir John students usually take home about half of the awards, but this year stood out as students received 12 of the 14 available medals.

The student who received the top mark on the Grade 12 Biology 30 exam, Cooper McLeod, wrote the exam while in Grade 11. 

“It felt pretty good,” he said of getting the top mark. “I was pretty confident with everything I did. So when they told me I just kind-of thought, ‘Oh, nice! Five hundred bucks.’”

Each Minister’s Medal comes with a $500 scholarship from the YK1 school board, which students who are now away at university say is helpful.

Fulford, who scored the top mark on the Social Studies 30-1 exam, is studying in Vancouver.

“Financial independence is really important for me, so definitely a little bit goes a long way. And I really appreciate that, because the cost of living is really high,” she said.

She said winning the Minister’s Medal was “a fun surprise” as it’s not the field she’s in – she’s studying engineering at university.

“I thought it was actually kind-of funny because it looks like most of the recipients aren’t getting awards in their field of study that they’re in, in university. So I guess it really goes to show how multi-talented everyone is,” she said.

Similarly, Ketchum – who took home the awards for his Math 30-1 and Chemistry 30 exams – is studying music in Edmonton.

“I don’t really have to do any math in my program,” he said.

Of the Minister’s Medal, he said: “I was very pleased to learn that [I had won]. I worked very hard on those exams, as did many of my peers, so it was a great feeling to be recognized in that way along with many other classmates that were also recognized.”

“This many students winning this many awards is really an exceptional achievement,” Curran said, noting this group of students had an unusual high school experience navigating the Covid-19 pandemic. Their Grade 12 year was their first full year of high school unaffected by shutdowns and online learning.

“In speaking with other members of the staff, there was a feeling that this was a really strong, intense, hard-working, very well-rounded group,” said Curran, noting this cohort of students had been “a particularly strong group” since they arrived at the school in Grade 9.

Curran said students recognized weren’t just strong academically. They were also involved in athletics, performing arts and student government. 

“We really see that it’s the well-rounded kid that generally performs very well, so it was nice to see that validated here,” he said.

“I’m looking at Alex Ketchum, who actually managed two awards in Math 30 and Chemistry 30 … he was a fixture in the performing arts department. And someone like Riley Oldford – who, again, won two awards – he was a member of the debate club, he was a member of student council. And Sebastian Pickles and Cooper McLeod were high performance multi-sport athletes.”

Curran credited the students’ families, friends, and teachers for helping them do so well on the exams.

“You don’t show up on the last day of Grade 12 year and just knock it out of the park. These kids have been taught well, all the years at Sir John they’ve been taught well, and all other years at middle school and elementary school. They’ve obviously had good work habits instilled in them by their parents and good modelling by their friends,” he said.

Ketchum also took a moment to thank his teachers.

“I had some very great teachers this year who were very helpful in preparing me for the diploma exams and offered guidance and support in that way. So I’m very grateful for my teachers,” he said.

“Congratulations to my other classmates who received the minister’s awards and to everyone who graduated for their hard work.”

At other schools, École St Patrick High School student Rohma Athar won a Minister’s Medal for top marks on their Biology 30 exam, while Vincent Gagné at École Allain St-Cyr scored the highest mark on Français 30-1.

This article appears as part of a paid partnership between Cabin Radio and the YK1 School District.