By Regan Tam
Jena Yue came to Collingwood in Grade 3. But, timid and quiet as she was, it wasn’t until she reached Morven when she began to make a bigger impact on the world around her. Beginning with debate in Grade 8, she’s gone on to make a major name for herself, winning international competitions and achieving amazing results. Jena has also made strong, meaningful contributions to her community, using her artwork to help those in need.
Jena began painting early on in her childhood, but hadn’t really considered it as a real hobby until this year. She enjoys experimenting with sketches and watercolours, but her main focus is on oil paintings. Inspired by the world around her, Jena paints vibrant, eye-catching pieces that are overflowing with energy and character. Jena pours time and love into all of her works, spending at least 5 hours on all of them. Despite the hard work and long hours, she finds painting to be both relaxing and de-stressing. The ability to express her own emotions, as well as bring out the viewer’s emotions, is a large part of why she has so much passion for what she does.
Jena Yue came to Collingwood in Grade 3. But, timid and quiet as she was, it wasn’t until she reached Morven when she began to make a bigger impact on the world around her. Beginning with debate in Grade 8, she’s gone on to make a major name for herself, winning international competitions and achieving amazing results. Jena has also made strong, meaningful contributions to her community, using her artwork to help those in need.
Jena began painting early on in her childhood, but hadn’t really considered it as a real hobby until this year. She enjoys experimenting with sketches and watercolours, but her main focus is on oil paintings. Inspired by the world around her, Jena paints vibrant, eye-catching pieces that are overflowing with energy and character. Jena pours time and love into all of her works, spending at least 5 hours on all of them. Despite the hard work and long hours, she finds painting to be both relaxing and de-stressing. The ability to express her own emotions, as well as bring out the viewer’s emotions, is a large part of why she has so much passion for what she does.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Jena found lots of time to find connections between her artwork and the world around her. She found herself wanting to make a greater impact on her community. And so, the Jena Yue Foundation was born.
“We focus on so many things in Syria, Peru, [...] and yes, those problems are huge, but they sometimes make us oblivious to the problems affecting our cities, our neighbours.”
Jena wanted to find a way to help disenfranchised youth in her own community. So, she decided to start the Jena Yue Foundation. Using this platform, Jena sells her paintings and donates all of the proceeds to the Learning Buddies Network: a non profit organization based in Vancouver, focusing on helping elementary students with literacy and numeracy skills.
“We focus on so many things in Syria, Peru, [...] and yes, those problems are huge, but they sometimes make us oblivious to the problems affecting our cities, our neighbours.”
Jena wanted to find a way to help disenfranchised youth in her own community. So, she decided to start the Jena Yue Foundation. Using this platform, Jena sells her paintings and donates all of the proceeds to the Learning Buddies Network: a non profit organization based in Vancouver, focusing on helping elementary students with literacy and numeracy skills.
Jena is all about self expression. Being quiet in elementary school, it was a big change for her to come to Morven, where she began to learn to assert herself through debate. It may be surprising to learn that Jena didn’t actually begin debating until she was in grade 8 - but now, less than four years later, she’s certainly made a name for herself. Jena has been to multiple prestigious competitions - hosted by the likes of Harvard, McGill, Queens, and UPenn. She’s made Canada’s national team for debate, earned an award for best junior speaker, and has also come 7th in the U.S. for world style speaking.
Finding arguments for debate is hard. That’s why Jena constantly tries to view the world around her from different angles, to help both her art and her debate skills. She’s looked to many things, both large and small, for inspiration. For her art, she finds joy in the little details: beautiful things that are so commonplace that we often forget how extraordinary they really are. And in debate, she looks to youth leaders like Emma Gonzalez and Greta Thunberg, who use their powerful voices to speak out and make a difference.
In the future, Jena wants to continue with both art and debate. She hopes to spread the ideas she’s learned: of motivation, of self-expression, and most importantly, of helping others.
You can find Jena’s works online at https://www.jenayuefoundation.com/ .
In the future, Jena wants to continue with both art and debate. She hopes to spread the ideas she’s learned: of motivation, of self-expression, and most importantly, of helping others.
You can find Jena’s works online at https://www.jenayuefoundation.com/ .