A “general all-around great guy,” in the words of his principal, Isaac Burdge became a two-time winner of the Rotary Club of Duncan’s Student of the Month Award in June.
Burdge was previously nominated for the award through Lake Cowichan School in February 2021. He received the award again in June 2022 through School District 79’s District Student Advisory Council.
READ MORE: Leadership lands Student of the Month Award for Lake Cowichan’s Isaac Burdge
Burdge is one of two members of DSAC from Lake Cowichan. DSAC is hailed by SD79 as “the voice of our student body,” helping connect students with board members and allowing for student input into board decisions. The group meets once a month during the school year. When COVID-19 restrictions made in-person meetings impossible, they met via Zoom, but in recent months the students have returned to meeting at schools, rotating around the Cowichan Valley.
Burdge took an enthusiastic leadership role on DSAC and made sure he was inclusive of all other members. He was nominated for the Student of the Month Award by SD79 Director of Instruction Larry Mattin.
“It’s really fun,” Burdge said of DSAC. “It’s really a good experience. It was a huge honour to be part of DSAC this year.”
In addition to DSAC, Burdge was involved in peer counselling, the LCS lunch program, and helped with students at the elementary part of Lake Cowichan School. He would also regularly have his fellow students up to his family home at Camp Imadene on Fridays until a Hallmark movie production put a stop to that.
Burdge “sadly” — his word, possibly ironic — graduated from LCS last month. Starting in the fall, he will be running a youth group for preteens at New Life Baptist Church in Duncan as part of his education at Rocky Mountain Bible College.
Burdge recognizes that his fellow students respect him, and that is his motivation for wanting to do more.
“I look around and I think, ‘I could do stuff,’” he said. “‘People look up to me.’”