VCC announces national scholarship winner

VCC is pleased to announce that second year jewellery art & design student, Fiona Maclean has been awarded the 2014 Vaccaro Family Scholarship. The $3,000 scholarship is the premier scholarship prize for jewellery design students across Canada; one that many students use to kick-start their career. 

(Left to right): CJEXPOS owner Phil Payne, Fiona Maclean, and Giovanni Vaccaro, owner of Beverly Hills Jewellers at the gala ball on Nov. 22; the award winning sterling silver and 18-karat rose gold bridal hairpiece. (Photos courtesy of Beverly Hills Jewellers)

The stunning bridal headpiece that was designed as homage to 1920’s lace patterns was submitted to the competition when Maclean was still a first-year student at VCC.  Maclean found out that not only had she won the prestigious scholarship, but would also be sent to Toronto, expenses paid, to attend the gala dinner. An event that Maclean says was quite overwhelming.

“The guest list was a who’s who of the jewellery industry and media. I was introduced to jewelers, manufacturers and faculty from other schools. Everyone was encouraging and gracious.”

Maclean will use the scholarship money to pay for the gemmology certification program at VCC, which she attends in the evenings while in her second year of the jewellery art & design diploma program. Maclean says she chose to study her passion at VCC because of the program’s strong reputation in the industry. The quality of instruction she has received was an added bonus.

When asked if she had any words of advice for those wanting to explore education in jewellery art & design, Maclean says, “work hard, get obsessed and use your imagination”. This certainly worked for her.