Two Queen Elizabeth Secondary students receive scholarships from singer and alumnus Luv Randhawa
From left, Queen Elizabeth Secondary counsellor Jeremy Lendvoy, Grade 12 students Gracy Gandhi and Kenny Segura, singer Luv Randhawa and Global BC's Jay Durant. Gandhi and Segura are recipients of $1,000 scholarships from Randhawa, a QE alum, celebrating visual and performance arts at his former secondary school.
Two Queen Elizabeth Secondary students are the recipients of scholarships from Vancouver-based Bhangra fusion singer and QE graduate Luv Randhawa.
Grade 12 students Gracy Gandhi and Kenny Segura each received $1,000 bursaries from the singer, who started the scholarship to promote arts at QE and give back to his old secondary school.
"He reached out to our school because he's a graduate of QE and he's looking for some standout performing artists and visual artists in our school," said QE counsellor Jeremy Lendvoy.
Gandhi and Segura were selected for their submission: Gandhi submitted several of her paintings, which include elements of surrealism, while Segura, who is a hip-hop artist under the name Young KGM, sent in the music video for "Green Light," a hype song about perseverance and resilience.
"My artistic style is ever-changing, it's never the same consistently," said Gandhi, who is attending the SFU School of Contemporary Fine Arts this fall. "I'm still developing my style but I want to reflect more world issues in my artwork, like feminism and equality."
"I picked 'Green Light' because I felt motivated - I'm going to graduate soon, I'm taking my music career seriously, working with the community. I'm on go, I'm not stopping, it's green light," said Segura, who also noted that positivity is a theme in his lyrics and his life, drawing on his work with the homeless at various community centres.
Gandhi said the bursary will allow her to afford and experiment with a broader array of materials and art supplies. Segura said he intends to spend the money on a music video in the community.
The scholarships also present an opportunity for both students to work with Randhawa on his next album, with Segura rapping and Gandhi working on the album cover and potentially lending some vocals as well.
"I'm really excited, he has a different style, a different flow and I'm excited to mix that around and see how people will react to my style and his style at the same time," said Segura.
"It's a really cool opportunity," said Gandhi. "I never really thought anything would come out of the whole art thing, I just started doing it because doing anything else wouldn't be true to myself."
Both credit Lendvoy for his guidance and recommendation to apply for the scholarship.
"I had the right people to mentor me - Mr. Lendvoy was the biggest factor, he really helped me out this year towards my art, even though he's not artistic," Gandhi said with a laugh. "He's really good at his job."
