The Western Wheel will be profiling outstanding graduating students from the area’s high schools throughout June.
With graduation looming, a prolific student volunteer at Oilfields High School is leaving a legacy that’s sure to last.
Grade 12 student Makayla Brown made the most of her time at the school in Diamond Valley, squeezing schoolwork in among numerous other commitments that have kept her busy over the last few years.
“I wanted to be useful,” Brown said. “I just feel like it’s my purpose to have an impact.”
Perhaps her most lasting impression will be three murals she painted at the school, beginning in her Grade 11 year.
That year she had the opportunity to create a logo for the school’s sustainability project that she wound up painting on a wall in the front foyer.
“I loved it so much that I asked if they needed help doing another one,” she said.
That led to her painting a revamped version of the Drillers logo at the school’s main entrance, and then a design on the vertical garden sea-can behind the school.
Brown began sketching when she was younger and likes to do her own thing when it comes to creating art.
“I don’t do art classes, just because I have a feeling that it restricts me from what I truly want to do,” she said.
Her other accomplishments include building a website to showcase the school’s extensive sustainability project and being co-MC at the opening ceremony of the project’s community garden.
Currently co-chair of the graduation committee, she’s also organized silent auctions and worked on winter markets.
“And there's a bunch of other little things that I've done, but it's so much that I can't remember,” she added.
Looking forward to graduation, she said as the big day nears, emotions run the gamut.
“I'm excited to move on to the new chapter, but I'm also sad to leave the school,” she said.
She plans on taking animal reiki courses in the summer before heading to Olds College this fall for a business diploma and equine certificate.
“The marketing side of business is what I’ve been getting into,” she said, with a few logo designs for local businesses already under her belt.
Math teacher Dr. Jeffrey Bailey said Brown has always been an active member of the Oilfields community and is like the backbone of the school.
She created a lasting legacy when she developed the sustainability project logo, Bailey said.
“Her involvement in that program has really defined, I think, who she is over the course of her high school career,” he said, adding that her enthusiasm stretches into the classroom.
With a love for learning, he said Brown is determined to figure out how and why things work the way they do.
She would continually ask questions and learn from her mistakes, he said.
"I feel like she takes that same type of determination in everything that she does, including outside the classroom.”
The joy she gets from volunteering and taking part are due to the people and the community within the school, Brown said.
“I love the people here...I love the community.”
"I wanted to be able to make a difference."
