Stand Off teens recognized at arts gala for youth in Calgary

Two teenagers from Stand Off, Alta., walked the red carpet last week at the International Awards Gala for Youth in Calgary.

Seventeen-year-old Tennille Day Chief and her cousin, 15-year-old Kaysen Day Chief, both walked away with awards.

“Once they called my name, I was really shocked. I was happy, I was so happy, I almost wanted to cry,” Tennille said.

But she didn’t win just one — she left with two first-place awards for the Best Actress Short Film category for age 16 and 16-17.

The first was for her role in Till Morning Breaks, a short series directed by Kenneth St. Pierre about vampires. The second was for her lead role in Mean Girls.

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“It was a spoof of Mean Girls so it was like a remake, meaning it was funnier,” Tennille said.

Kaysen earned himself a second- and third-place award for a couple of art pieces.

“I realized that I like to draw a lot so I started drawing at home or wherever I could,” he said. “Anime from a long time ago like the 1960s, or ’50s, or ’70s — that’s what I like to draw.”

The gala was organized by the Music is Cool (MIC) foundation, a non-profit organization. This year was a first for the awards show honouring youth in music, acting and visual arts.

“We offer scholarships for kids in the arts with the money we raise from the awards,” founder Maggie Hewitt said. “If someone wants to apply for a scholarship activity for guitar and six months of lessons, we would consider that as a scholarship, or we would provide art supplies for some kid who couldn’t afford it, so that’s our whole purpose.”

For Tennille, winning the awards means she’s one step closer to reaching her dreams.

“Someday, I want to go to Hollywood and get up there so I’m kind of working on that,” she said.