On Jan. 22, 2021, it was announced that UW’s own Matt Regehr and Beth Gallagher won gold in the Case II competition for creating the ‘best general video’, as well as a silver medal for ‘Best Video on a Shoestring’ highlighting the citizenship judge Albert Wong (BSc ’80).
“These kinds of awards help us showcase University of Waterloo alumni within our own community but also across Canada and the world,” Gallagher said.
This competition features video submissions from prestigious schools in the USA and Canada such as McGill andthe University of Toronto. “Some of the U.S. colleges and universities have big budgets and are really creative, so it feels nice to do well against them,” Matt Regehr stated in an interview with Imprint. “Over the years, Waterloo has won awards in almost every category,” he added. This just goes to show how wonderful and unique the Kitchener-Waterloo region is.
Celebrating who we are is important, and Gallagher and Regehr capture that in their short video on citizenship Judge Albert Wong. “From a videographer’s perspective it was a dream job. As soon as Beth pitched the idea, I knew it could be a powerful, emotional piece and I wanted to deliver on Beth’s vision and do well for Waterloo,” Regehr stated. “Judge Wong is an amazing guy with a rich history and great story. We got so much good content we could have told multiple stories,” Regehr continued.
“We decided to focus on the children and shape the story around the young New Canadians because they were obviously so important to Judge Wong; and Matt was able to capture so much beautiful, candid footage of the children,” Gallagher remarked. In many ways, Judge Wong’s story resonates with students of Waterloo and Canadians from coast to coast.
“I think Judge Wong is a really good example of why universities maintain relationships with their alumni. People spend their very formative years at university and build connections that last a lifetime. Building and nurturing strong alumni communities can have a huge impact on the broader society and the institutions themselves,” Gallagher observed.
When asked about what the best part of making this video was, Matt Regehr answered: “to experience the joy and happiness of each new Canadian was amazing. I attended three citizenship ceremonies and even though it was a long day, it was a really great experience and definitely worth it. Watching the faces of the parents as their children became Canadian citizens was priceless.”
“Being able to capture these special moments was something I’ll always remember. It’s not something everyone gets to see,” Regehr conveyed.
