Thankful for a start at DMCI

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This article was published 15/5/2017 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Whether it’s been a year or 20 since graduation, high school is a place you never forget.

On May 18, Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute is honouring two former students for outstanding achievements in arts and sports at its second AACE Awards dinner.

Joe Ogoms will receive the AACE Award for Athletic Achievement in honour of his long and successful basketball career, while Christian Miranda is receiving the AACE Youth Award for his artistic achievements, which have been recognized nationally and internationally.

Ogoms played basketball for the DMCI Maroons, which led to a spot on the University of Manitoba Bisons team, Canada’s national basketball team and several prominent European teams. Ogoms says basketball changed his life.

"I was a little bit of a s—-, a troublemaker," Ogoms said with a laugh. "I had no focus. I was a little angry and whatever, but I wasn’t a good student."

When he was in middle school at General Wolfe, Ogoms reconnected with some friends from elementary school.

"I met some guys at my old school… and I started going there every night to play whenever I knew they’d be there," he said. "That was the beginning. It gave me focus, it gave me something to do.

"Right now I’m a corrections officer. I honestly believe if I didn’t start playing basketball, I would be on the other side… basketball kind of saved me, cause I was going, I was on my way somewhere else."

Ogoms said going to DMCI and getting support and mentoring from the staff there made a huge difference as well.

Miranda, 22, is being honoured for his work in visual art, most notably a project that earned him the Gold Key Award in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, an award previously won by Andy Warhol. Miranda’s work has been on display in the National Gallery of Canada. Today, he works in digital media during the day while continuing personal art projects during his free time.

"Every day of my life is art, art is my day job and I do it at home," Miranda said.

For the pieces Miranda submitted to the Scholastic Awards, he focused on hands.

"I like the idea of hands because there are so many intricate details. You can kind of use that and create different pieces of artwork and create surrealistic forms of artwork through that."

Miranda worked from photos that he took of a friend. The young artist has left his mark on DMCI in more ways than one — he also created one of the murals in the school’s hallways titled Wings of Nations. The piece celebrates the diversity at DMCI.

"I’m really happy about it," Miranda said of the upcoming AACE Awards night. "I’ve been busy with work, so it’s a good opportunity to meet with my old high school teachers."

To see Miranda’s work, find him on Instagram (@christianamiel21). To learn more about a game that he’s currently designing, visit gyremaelstrom.com