A dedicated photography student at Oilfields School gives back and is carrying on a tradition of helping younger students.
Kylee Sullivan put in countless hours capturing memories and recording events at the school, with much of her work going into the yearbook or being displayed in the hallways.
Over the last few years, the Class of 2024 grad has been there to document sports games, drama performances and countless other events at the school in Diamond Valley.
With graduation approaching, Sullivan said she is glad she could share her passion and help promote the school during her time there.
“I think that's my gift I can give to the community in the school,” Sullivan said.
Oilfields has hosted numerous provincial sports tournaments, and Sullivan made the most of every opportunity to make it meaningful for the athletes.
Beyond game photos and player portraits, Sullivan designed posters and printed swag for the players.
“We would take their pictures and then print out little plastic ID cards,” she said.
During a recent handball tournament, she put in long days to shoot 9,000 photos, said teacher Wade Westworth.
“It was a very stressful week,” Sullivan said. “We have a lot of things to do, and not a lot of time to do them."
When Sullivan isn’t behind the lens or in front of a computer screen, she can often be found mentoring up-and-coming photographers.
As a teaching assistant, Sullivan’s been helping in the junior high photography class for the past three years.
Seeing how involved the teacher’s assistant was when she was in junior high, Sullivan made up her mind to do the same thing.
“I love working with the younger kids and teaching them how to do these things,” she said. “It’s my passion, so I like to show (others).”
Being a teaching assistant is treated like a job, where Sullivan tracks her hours and goes through performance reviews, Westworth said.
"She’s done a phenomenal job at being a real mentor to our junior high students,” he said.
Sullivan said there’s even a possibility that she’d return to Oilfields one day to teach the next generation of photo students.
"Mr. Westworth and I have a little joke where I'm going to get my education degree,” she said. “By the time he's ready to retire, I'm going to become the photography teacher.”
Westworth said the student has shown a phenomenal amount of growth over the years.
“I have to supervise her very little in terms of shooting portraits and creating these posters and printing them,” he said.
Through her work, students get exposure for their accomplishments, and the community sees the incredible things going on at the school, he said.
“Every single student that participated in a sport or drama play, or any of the other events that that went on this year, Kylee was there taking pictures of all of that,” he said.
