BobCon will be a blast for entire community

It's about innovation, the arts, entrepreneurship, having fun and supporting a worthy cause.

Best of all, it's designed for the entire community to enjoy at the Bow Valley High School.

Mark Jan. 15 on your calendar for BobCon Act 1, an evening festival that also includes a carnival in support of Helping Hands.

BVHS teacher Stefan Rasporich says they didn't have a celebration of the incredible options offered to students. After being named in a team lead role at the school, he came up with the idea of having a comic expo type event with multiple things happening to highlight student performance, arts, design, e-sports, theatresports, foods and fashion.

There will be music performances, a fashion show, improv acting, drama shows and cheer plus a BobCon Pitch Den. 

There's also an e-sports tournament.

"We just launched an e-sports team," says Rasporich. "That's a first for Bow Valley, so we might have some Rocket league being played in a tournament, maybe some Nintendo, some Smash Bros. Bring your controllers, kids. You might be able to hop on to a game or two."

At a BobCon Pitch Den, students will pitch some business ideas, that will include some game design components, and computer science elements. Rasporich says it's a way to create synergy between computer science, game design, enterprise and innovation.

"We have judges from the community who've stepped up and they're really excited to come and support. this and even sponsor some of these prizes."

While the idea of BobCon was coming together, Bow Valley leadership student Juliet McDonald was passionately pursing the idea of holding a winter carnival. The two joined forces.

Tickets will be available to play the carnival games and having a chance to win prizes while supporting Helping Hands.

"This is a community event to bring everyone together," says McDonald. "Along with our partnership with Helping Hands, we're saying a lot about how you can make a positive impact in someone's life and get connected with your community. It's meant to be really positive experience to help people in our community and connecting all of us."

In May, BobCon Act II will be held. Rasporich says the intent is to involve Cochrane High, Mini Thni, St. Timothy High School, and all of Cochrane. He says Mayor Jeff Genung has already signed on to attend.

"The idea was originally to be like a comic expo sort of event where you could go and everybody can have a unique experience. When we think about game design and replayability, you always want that unique experience, and so our follow up in in May will be Act 2. You know people will be like, oh wow, I had this experience, what sort of new experience could I have now?"

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