The competition consisted of girls creating videos of their life during lockdown. In her video, April balanced humor and a sentimental message of encouraging happiness by reflecting on past events, rather than dwelling on what could have been if there was no lockdown.

“We were impressed with the quality of the video, but we weren’t surprised by it, because anything she sets her mind to, she does wonderfully,” said Jennifer Judd, April’s mother. “She’s a hard worker.”

April said a cancelled event for her graduating class at John Abbott College is what made her think this way prior to creating the video.

“We were going to put on our final musical, Mary Poppins, which we’ve been working on throughout the semester, but it didn’t get to happen,” she said. “So it’s easy to get in that negative headspace about what you’ve missed out on, rather than looking back at what you were able to [experience].”

Nonetheless, April could have missed out on something more significant, according to her.

“College graduation is nowhere near the milestone high school graduation is,” said April “I don’t even know if I would have gone to the graduation ceremony at John Abbot, to be honest.”

Prom and the build-up to it, of which Promposals are part of and the party afterwards are the main reasons why April thinks high school graduation trumps the college one.

She first heard about the competition through an ad on Instagram, being drawn to the prize money as a well as the positive initiative of putting girls’ voices on the platform.

All the cancellations of big events, such as high school or college graduations has made her re-evaluate what truly matters in life. She did not start working on the video right away, as she was in a bad mood at the time, feeling sorry for what she was missing out on. A couple of days later, she became inspired and put the video together.

“Whenever I have a big passion for something, it just kinda happens and I hope for the best,” said April. “I think it turned out pretty well.”

April used the time in lockdown to work on playing the ukulele, the piano and singing and has also taken full advantage of spending more time with her family, helping her brother, Samuel, do his online grade seven courses.

Her favourite thing to do during this time, however, is work on the improvised activities given to her by teachers.

“We did a podcast in my complex emergencies class and I teamed up with another girl that I never talked to as much, and it was a unique experience in just figuring out other ways of connecting with friends without it being face to face,” said April.

April also enjoys video making and editing, hence why she liked doing the project.

Jennifer said that, as a college student, the last place April would probably want to be is at home with her parents.

“But having a full house with all our kids has been a pretty neat gift,” said Jennifer. “As a family, I think we try and encourage our children to dream big, but to be kind. I think she does a wonderful job of showing that.”

April said her own personality has been fairly consistent growing up.

“I am a very extravagant person

around people that I’m comfortable with, a lot of the time,” said April. “Around people who I have not met before, I may come across as a little more introverted.”

At times where it had veered off, she had someone there to guide her back on the positivity train.

She said social media influences her personality significantly, as well as her parents.

Now owners of Little Red Wagon Winery, April’s parents, Jennifer and Scott, started out owning the dairy barn across the road. Their journey inspired April to follow her feelings in the moment and not be afraid of where they would lead.

“This may be a rough time in our soon-to-be history and there may have been opportunities and experiences that were missed on,” said April. “But there’s so much to look forward to.”

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