Vanguard students host passion project showcase

MOSES LAKE  — Vanguard Academy students hosted a showcase Thursday evening, highlighting passion projects that they’ve been working on this school year. Vanguard Principal Matt Stevens said these exhibition nights are great for the students to demonstrate their learning and their personal interests. 

“Really good opportunity to show the kids off more than the school, what kind of interests they have, what they’re capable of,” said Stevens. “It’s a good night for the kids.” 

He said these various projects help show how the students can take the ideas being demonstrated by their teachers and apply them directly into the real world. 

Aiden Woolsey, a senior at Vanguard, has become a central figure in the school’s video and photography development with the creation of his own video production Brush & Beats Media. He said his love for photography and video editing is something that had just popped up this school year during his class with teacher Jessica Merritt when she assigned a videography project at the start of the year. 

“I did some video editing, and I wanted to really know the techniques behind photography so that I can contribute those photo edits and stuff to my videos to make them look cleaner, make them look better,” said Woolsey. 

The final result of that assignment was a documentary highlighting his seminary teacher’s duties as a citizen and what students can look forward to when becoming an adult. When the project was finished Woolsey presented it to both Merritt and Vanguard’s Holly Burgess Rock and he said they both were amazed by his work and that the quality even outdid official work from his church. 

After graduation, Woolsey said he plans on attending Brigham Young University Idaho and study to become a physical therapist, minoring in cinematography, but could see himself flipping the two as he continues to pursue this newfound passion. 

As Woolsey heads toward the end of his high school career, he wants to leave a lasting legacy at Vanguard. 

“I want every incoming freshman to understand the purpose of the school and what we stand for the second they walk through those doors,” he said.  

Another student project highlighted at the event was a mechanical prosthetic arm powered through ChatGPT created by sophomore Draidyn Day. The arm was programmed to make different gestures and can even create complex gestures on its own when given a prompt. 

Day said that he wants to continue tweaking his creation with the goal of having it be used in the medical field for prosthetics and helping those recovering from surgeries. 

“That was my inspiration and I’ve just always liked AI. I always loved robotics, so I wanted to try it, and this is where it got me,” he said.  

The theme of helping others was prominent at Vanguard Thursday, but one of the main examples of how the school gives back to the community was shown in the Vanguard Closet exhibition presented by Mirabel Arreola and Linda Gutierrez. 

The Vanguard Closet acts as a storage room for donations of items like nonperishable food items, hygiene and clothing taken in by the school that can be used by students at the school or will be donated to those in need, said Arreola. Because people all have very different needs, the school collects everything they can, so they’re prepared for whoever needs it. 

“When the people that genuinely don’t have anything, it’s our way of helping them,” she said. 

Stephanie Lopez, a teacher at Vanguard who helped run the 11th grade portion of the event, said the passion project displays were a perfect example of what Vanguard strives for their students.  

“It’s important because it gives them the opportunity to build those traits to be a lifelong learner,” said Lopez. “We have kids who want to do community service projects and we hope that they want to continue that for the rest of their lives.” 

Stevens said Vanguard Academy will host another exhibition event later in the school year to show how far the students have grown from the first half of the school year through the second half. 

    Vanguard sophomore Draidyn Day sits at his computer with his robotic arm that he designed, built and programmed himself. Day said that he would like to see technology like what he has created be used in the medical field.
  

    Mirabel Arreola, left, and Linda Gutierrez, right, stand together at the entrance of the Vanguard Closet. In their presentation the two freshmen showed off the supplies collected at the school and how they use those supplies to help out those in need.
  

    Anabela Deering, a freshman at Vanguard, sits at her presentation where she shared her artistic journey and aims to inspire both new and experienced artists to enjoy their hobby.
  

    Vanguard’s Oliver Beck, left and Matt Story, right, stand together at Story’s presentation on the Statistical Projections of the 2025 NFL Season presentation. Beck’s neighboring presentation was a recap on CB-Tech.