Parent and Student Info » Rotary Student of the month

Rotary Student of the month

 "Student of the Month" is a Rotary Club of Penticton-Okanagan initiative.  The award aims to recognize outstanding students for unique achievement in scholastics, extracurricular activities, community involvement, leadership and service to others.  The Rotary Club of Penticton-Okanagan is partnering with Penticton Secondary School and Princess Margaret Secondary School, aided by a generous financial contribution from Gateway Casinos as part of their proactive involvement in wide-ranging community service projects.

 

Kaiya Forbes,The Rotary Club of Penticton Sunrise is pleased to name Kaiya Forbes, an all-round, goal-oriented, industrious and altruistic Grade 12 student at Princess Margaret Secondary School, as Rotary Student of the Month for April. In selecting Forbes for SOM honors, club members commended her outstanding achievements in academics and athletics accompanied by consummate leadership in numerous community fundraising and school spirit-enhancing activities.

 

Forbes, who was born in Fort St. John and moved to Keremeos before her first birthday and then to Penticton at age five, is the older of two children in a family active in competitive sports. Undoubtedly, she has received sound parental guidance in acquiring core life values promoting personal growth, vocational development and exemplary citizenship.

 

Forbes, who is firmly committed to pursuing academic excellence, has thoroughly enjoyed her studies at Maggie, especially the science subjects, both biological (life sciences) and physical (chemistry, physics), in which she has achieved a grade average of 94%.

 

Curiosity-motivated, Forbes likes to understand how things work. She became so fascinated by genetics in the biology unit during the first semester of Grade 10 that she switched her courses in the second semester to take biology 11, studying lower organisms, such as worms and crickets, and then dissecting them. Lastly, she completed anatomy and physiology 12, featuring human body parts and their functions and dissection of a sheep heart and brain, in her grade 11 year.

 

Math teacher Chris Becker remarked, “Endowed with a pleasant demeanor and upbeat personality, Kaiya is one of my favourite students. Incredibly hard working, she battles through difficult concepts on her own while asking for help as needed. She unfailingly does more than is expected for preparation and does so promptly while consistently completing assignments properly and on-time. In short, she quietly does what is needed to excel at her studies.”

 

Chemistry teacher Shawn Lum added, “Kaiya is a fantastic student who works tirelessly and always puts in her best effort. She is dedicated to her studies and has a great attitude that positively impacts everyone around her.”

 

Sports has always been a major part of Forbes’ life starting at age 4 when her dad felt she was able to walk well enough to begin learning to skate. She started playing hockey and softball the following year and quickly became very competitive in both sports, playing on the Penticton U15 rep hockey team in Grade 8 and the Summerland U17 rep hockey team in Grade 9.

 

Likewise, in Grades 5 and 6, Forbes played softball in the local house league during the school year and on the Kelowna All-Stars rep team in the summer. In Grade 7, she played full time on the Kelowna Heat rep team. After many hours of rigorous training, she made a quantum jump in Grade 8 when she played on the Fraser Valley Fusion “A” team in Langley, living close by with her grandparents in the summer. She then returned to the Kelowna Heat in Grades 9 and 10.

 

She appreciates competitive team sports for “teaching the importance of commitment, self-discipline, perseverance and teamwork to attain a common goal while instilling self-confidence, independence and creativity when pursuing academic and other demanding endeavors.”

 

Since stepping away from competitive sports upon entering Grade 11 to focus on her academics, she has drawn upon her vast playing experience to coach several area softball teams, thus giving back to a sport she loves. These positions entail serving as an assistant coach of the Thompson Okanagan Softball team that competed in the 2024 BC Summer Games and now helping to coach the South Okanagan Sun Softball Academy U15 team in Kelowna.

Coach and dad PJ Forbes remarked, “As one of Kaiya’s longtime coaches, I have had the privilege of observing her develop her passion for sports and then use her knowledge and experience to support and uplift other youth in their sporting journey. From a young age Kaiya always displayed a fierce competitive drive in both ice hockey and softball, including as a softball pitcher in the 2022 BC Summer Games and then helping coach the 2024 BC Summer Games softball team for Zone 2 and now continuing as a volunteer coach for the South Okanagan Sun U15B softball team.”

 

Forbes’ versatility extends beyond her exploits in scholastics and sports to heading high-profile school initiatives in support of laudable charitable causes and student-bonding exercises. Although she had taken part, in a supportive role, in many of these initiatives in the past, Forbes was persuaded by a friend, Ushman Gill, to join the leadership program this year and, much to her credit, she quickly became a mainstay of Maggie’s vibrant leadership team.

 

Notably, last fall, Forbes and Gill teamed up to organize the traditional 10,000 Tonight food drive for the Salvation Army food bank. The city-wide, door-to-door campaign, conducted jointly with Pen Hi, was a major undertaking requiring four weeks of detailed planning to ensure that the event, involving 600 Maggie students, ran smoothly. The drive was a huge success, setting a post-COVID record that far exceeded its goal by collecting 17,602 food items to reduce local food insecurity.

 

Forbes has also played a leading role in several other events, including Cancer Awareness Week with proceeds from the sale of candy bags and purple ribbon pins donated to the local Oncology Clinic. Later this month, she will be leading the Earth Week event that promotes green practices among the student body and the blood donation drive for the Canadian Blood Services next month. Finally, she has also helped out in various other school activities, including the Terry Fox Run and the Remembrance Day ceremony.

 

Leadership teacher Archie McKinnon stated, “Polite, caring and reliable, Kaiya is an outstanding person who greatly enriches our school and community culture. Aside from her academic and athletic prowess, she has excelled in leadership, notably spearheading this year’s highly successful 10,000 Tonight food drive—our biggest fundraising event since 2018. Her amazing organizational skills, worker bee mindset and unwavering dedication were evident to all as she helped collect donations in the pouring rain to the very end. A promising future awaits this gem of a young lady.”

 

Given her many commitments, including part-time work at Winners and HomeSense store, Forbes understandably identifies time management as her greatest challenge but has learned to prioritize and stay well-organized to maintain optimal balance.'

 

To unwind and recharge, she enjoys kickboxing, recreational slo- pitch and going for walks after dinner with her mom.

 

Upon graduation, Forbes plans to pursue a Bachelor of Science majoring in Biology at the University of Fraser Valley, with the long-term goal of entering medical school and eventually specializing in neurosurgery. Irrespective of her career path, this gifted young lady exhibits in spades many of the quality traits of highly successful people — studious, laser-focused, tenacious, and resilient. These traits, along with an engaging and caring personality, portend a bright future.

 

“Student of the Month” is a Rotary Club of Penticton Sunrise project recognizing outstanding students for unique achievement in scholastics, extracurricular activities, community involvement, leadership, and service to others. The Club is pleased to recognize Penticton Secondary School and Princess Margaret Secondary School as project partners and Cascades Casino Penticton for generous financial aid.