Jason McKee-Fortin’s bedroom walls and shelves are lined with medals and trophies he won on various sports teams.
The Dover Bay Secondary School graduate calls his bedroom “shrine” his inspiration to continue working hard and keep his game up.
The largest trophy in the room he earned at the Island high school basketball championships this year – most valuable player.
Victoria-born basketball player Steve Nash, who now plays for the Phoenix Suns, was named Island MVP in 1992 and Nash would have had that same trophy in his bedroom for a year.
It was a dramatic, last-second shot made just before the buzzer by McKee-Fortin that nailed the championship for his team.
“I just gave it my all and I was lucky, I guess,” he said.
But luck isn’t the reason for all his trophies – he works hard and as team captain this year, he had to set the best example.
“You just have to stay positive, show everyone you know the right thing to do,” he said. “My teammates always know I’m going to work hard and have their back.”
McKee-Fortin, named Dover’s athlete of the year for the past three years, also ran with Dover’s cross-country team. The team finished in second place on the Island and third at provincials.
Last summer, he travelled to Vancouver, Bellingham, Seattle, Las Vegas and Winnipeg with the provincial basketball team.
McKee-Fortin also performs well in his academic studies and helps others do so, too.
He tutored Grade 7 students at Randerson Ridge Elementary School in math last year to help them prepare for high school math because a similar effort by a senior student when he was in Grade 7 helped him skip a grade in math.
He also helped out with a spring basketball tournament Dover hosts each year for elementary school students, doing some of the coaching, and was part of an aboriginal youth group at Dover that organized cultural activities at the school.
“There’s so many volunteers who have helped me through high school, I just feel like I have to give back a bit,” said McKee-Fortin.
He plans to study at Vancouver Island University for a couple years and then transfer to the University of B.C.’s pharmaceutical sciences program.
Mark Simpson, a teacher and coach of the Dover boys’ basketball team, said McKee-Fortin excels both in the classroom and on the basketball court.
“He is an extremely competitive, hard working individual,” he said. “He leads by example and he does a good job of communicating.”