Senior David Ash compiled an independent video project that further extends the English department’s summer reading work on the motif of courage.  

While the theme was developed by English department chair Jane Betar, Ash took this motif and created a video that featured a variety of opinions.

“The main idea was just kind of seeing what students as Algonquin thought was courage,” Ash said.  “So we just went around and asked a bunch of people basically what courage was to them and saw how they felt about it.”

Through the process of making the video, Ash learned what courage means to many different students and faculty. In doing so, he recognized homogenous answers.

“Doing what you believe in, standing up for what you believe in no matter what other people think,” was a common answer, according to Ash.

Applied arts teacher George Clarke believes Ash’s video is the perfect accompaniment to the English department’s teaching of the courage motif.

“It’s a video that’ll explain how some people view courage,” Clarke said.  “[It goes] along with what the English department has already done.”

Overall, Ash hopes the video will give viewers a sense of empowerment.  

“I just hope that people can watch it and kind of take out of it that other people will feel the same way about courage, and they don’t need to be afraid of being courageous and standing up for what they believe in,” Ash said.