Luca Hartvigsen

It is not surprising that this adventurous, 17 year-old international student from Denmark, has travelled half-way around the world during a pandemic, to study in Powell River. Luca and her family love to travel and have travelled to over 40 different counties on every continent except South America and Antarctica. Luca chose to do her Grade 12 year in Canada to fulfill a life-time dream of studying in Canada. “I love living in Powell River because of how friendly and welcoming the people are and I like being surrounded by nature. 

In September my host family, the Kennedy’s, took me up Powell Lake to spend time in a friend’s cabin. We swam, relaxed, and saw incredible mountains and beautiful scenery. It was almost like something out of a movie.” 

She enjoys attending Brooks Secondary School because of the great selection of courses she can choose from. Her favourite class this year is Photography 12 with Mr. Bennett. “I like photography because it gives me a new way to be creative. I also like how Mr. Bennett teaches the course with an open mind and lots of flexibility.” 

Luca loves reading international crime novels, reading for up to two to three hours daily. “I love reading because it gives me a way to escape from a stressful or hectic day. When I read, I relax and focus on only one thing.” Luca speaks five languages including Danish, English, Swedish, German and Norwegian. She hopes to start learning French as well. 

Drawing and painting are other creative outlets that Luca enjoys. “I like starting with something abstract and converting it into a real object. This is a way for me to change a weird shape into something human like.”  

Luca credits her mother for pushing her to look at other educational opportunities. “It is because of my mom that I decided to come to Canada.”  Luca is most grateful for being allowed to see a part of the world that she has always wanted to see or experience. 

This June, Luca plans to graduate from Brooks then return to Denmark to study Psychology and Social Studies at a college for two years. She then hopes to study at an international university where her eventual goal is to be a child psychologist. Once she becomes a child psychologist she plans to work and live around the world. 

Luca thinks she has had an amazing opportunity to study in Powell River and experience the wonderful culture that this area offers. We are certainly lucky to have this creative and open -minded person be a part of our vibrant school community.