One of our Year 12 art students, Lizzy,  has been granted a £400 award from the Mark Evison Foundation to use her creativity for conservation awareness. This summer, she will combine her  passion for British wildlife with her photography and painting skills. Together with a friend from Glenthorne, who has also won the award, Lizzy will trek for seven days through London and the Kent countryside to find and capture rare species on camera. They will use their photos to create artworks to exhibit and auction off to the local community, inspiring others to conserve our natural countryside and to raise money for wildlife charities. The students have taken complete ownership over their project, devising and planning it independently, as part of the Mark Evison Foundation’s School Awards scheme.

The Mark Evison Foundation aims to promote personal, creative, mental and physical development. In addition to carrying out the challenge itself, the Foundation asks applicants to be responsible for designing and planning their own projects: the Foundation then provides the funding.

Lizzy said: "Our plan is to know where we are going, without knowing what we will find. That is the unpredictability of nature which my friend and I have grown so fond of."

We wish them all the best with their expedition and exhibition this summer.