Think ahead!

Wow… So this Blog has come to an end but I know my involvement in my activities and use of leadership will never end! I continue to stay involved in as much as I can manage to take on because I enjoy being busy and the many opportunities and experiences you can gain from being involved in school, community and other activities are endless! I have been able to gain many new skills, learn more about other people and even myself because of activities involving leadership and also volunteering.

In the past, including this year, I have gotten to use my leadership and volunteering skills a lot! I have volunteered at swim meets, coaching Special Olympics swim team, participated in many fundraisers (ex, Swim for hope, Relay for life, Operation Christmas child, AIDS Research and the Terry Fox run), Counselled at Burry Heights Church camp, helped decorate for the annual school auction, and much, much more!! I enjoy lending a hand whenever possible because when you volunteer you are rewarded by something much better than money; you are rewarded by a feeling. The most recent time that I have had this feeling was Wednesday past. As all of us know, Wednesday was anti-bullying day. Being a part of Danceworx, the performing group was told if they wanted to volunteer and practice a few more hours on Sunday nights that we could learn a new dance to a song from Glee, “Loser like me” and perform it for anti-bulling day around the schools in a few close by communities. We all wore pink and went to 2 elementary schools, 1 junior high and our high school. During the assemblies, at a random time, our music came on and we rushed from all over to perform like a flash mob. It was rewarding to see how excited all the children got. Just by looking at their faces and seeing their huge smiles I could tell that they enjoyed it. Even a few little kiddies came looking for autographs… how cute! I was honoured to participate in this event because of how strongly I feel about bullying. I realize it can never be put to a complete end, but I feel that having an anti-bullying day will help prevent it. This day allows people to take time to reflect on their own actions because of the speeches given and videos shown. It lets everyone become aware of the huge problem. This was only one example of a rewarding feeling because of volunteering. When you realize how much you have helped contribute to an event by volunteering and receive the rewarding feeling you want to volunteer more! I plan on continuing to volunteer with the things that I have volunteered with in the past, and plan to volunteer even more this coming year whenever the chance is presented.

Leadership is contagious. Being a part of one thing amounted into another. As a member of student council I have become interested in public speaking competitions in both English and French. Since I enjoy public speaking, it lead me to get involved with improv and drama. It helped me develop many people skills which were very effective with regards to being on many sports teams and team groups. I think having leadership skills is very important. They are used everyday and give you so many opportunities, like leadership conferences! I feel strongly about the importance of leadership. Looking around at the people in my High school who are not involved in anything I think to myself how do they manage? I can not imagine myself going through high school without playing a sport, staying after school for a club or practice and missing days for tournaments and fun trips for being involved. School is not all about grades, classes and studying. I know why people hate school. It is because they are not involved in activities and haven’t opened their selves up to leadership. In fact, I feel that you can learn more from the many activities offered by schools than you can in a class room. Where else are you going to build on you team skills, speaking skills and leadership if you do not put yourself out there and become involved.

In the future I plan to remain a leader, stay involved and continue to volunteer, just like I have my whole life! Why change now and drop all my activities when each year more experiences are presented? Next year in high school, being my last year and all, I would love to participate in more volunteer activities and fundraisers. If possible, I would like to volunteer with Hero Holiday and even participate with Encounters with Canada. My main goals are to keep my grades up and remain involved, which I plan to work hard to continue to do. When I go to MUN I would like to become involved in as much as I can possibly take on! Especially activities that that include leadership and volunteering. I have heard about the many things offered at the university and can not wait to step in and expand myself to different opportunities that I have not been exposed to before. I hope to have a career that allows me to continue to use my leadership skills by doing things such as public speaking. As I grow even older and older my interests will not change. I still would like to be involved and remain busy! Maybe take on the role of a coach for a sports team, or even help plan a community event! I want to continue to use the many skills that I have learned to help others! Leadership has helped me with so many things in my life and develop many skills. I feel that you can never have too much participation in leadership activities, it is something that is enjoyable, rewarding and does not get boring! It allows you to discover many new interests and helps you be able to try new things. I would not change my past experiences for the world! Some of my favourite memories were made by volunteering and leadership events… Who says it is not fun? I have met such amazing people because of my experiences and continue to learn, grow and profit from what is presented before me.

This Blog project has been rewarding. Reading about others to get to know them better, and taking the time to reflect on myself. I was able to discover myself the many reasons why I enjoy leadership as much as I do and how lucky I am to be capable to be involved in the many experiences that comes along with it. I hope that you have enjoyed reading my posts and I look forward to seeing everyone again soon!! :) 

Tweet It!

So so so sorry about this blog being a little late! I have been crazy busy this past week with studying for tests, sports, dance class, drama rehearsal, speak offs, work and more! Also I encountered many problems with getting a new Twitter account seeing my old one was deactivated for some reason and I waited to hear confirmation to see if I was able to get a new one under the same email but it was not possible! As a result of hearing that I could not recover my old account I had to create another email address to use to create another Twitter account! Oh boy... Finally its good to go now and I can move along with my blogging! :)

I enjoyed looking for different inspirational organisations and people on Twitter to create this blog! Finding ones that interested me and discovering how they hold an impact on our world was even eye opening. I think the idea for creating a "Tweet It" blog was wonderful! Here it goes....

1. Toms Shoes (@TOMS)

"Toms" is not only a brand name of shoes but an organisation that helps improve the lives of children. The company has what they call a "One for One Movement". Toms matches every shoe purchased and gives a new pair to a child in need. I think this is a great form of a fundraiser to raise awareness about the lifestyles of others less fortunate around the world. Think about walking bare foot over hard rocks and sharp objects. To us this is not something that we would choose to do because we are fortunate enough. To the less fortunate children in the world they have no other option but to live with the consequences of having no shoes for their little feet. It is a simple way for us as people to make a difference in the world. For more information on the movement visit the link; http://www.toms.com/our-movement/ ... Maybe even take some time to purchase a pair of shoes for yourself, and even better to help someone in need!

2. Demetria Lovato (@ddlovato)

Demetria Lovato, more commonly known as Demi Lovato is a person who I feel is very inspirational. With next week being Anti Bullying week, I felt my choice of Demi for this blog was an even better fit! Throughout her life as a star she developed mental and emotional issues that are not uncommon. As a result of her struggles with eating disorders, self harm, mood disorders, and substance abuse, Demi was sent to Rehab to recover. This was the darkest time in her life she said, but with the support of her family, friends, and fans she pulled herself together and made it through. She has many tattoos to remind her of little messages to believe she is beautiful and to not give up on herself. One it particular is "Stay Strong" tattooed on her wrists. She got them after her release from rehab to cover her scars and be a symbol of growth and recovery. What I find so inspirational about Demi is not only that she was able to overcome her challenges but to have the courage to talk about her struggles and try to get the message out to prevent others from suffering in the ways that she had. Demi wanted to share her story so she filmed a documentary that will air on MTV on March 6. "I wanted to share my story, but I knew it had to be honest, it had to be real. I have daily challenges, but so do many kids who are struggling to feel comfortable in their own skin. If opening up and sharing my story inspires even one person to stay strong or to get the help they need, I've succeeded."- Demi Lovato. Demi is also featured in on of "Bell Aliant's" commercials which gives a brief explanation of Demi's situation and explaining how it is important to "Talk about it". I feel it is important to spread awareness of these horrible situations that people may face to make them aware that with the right attitude, support and proper help that they will be able to pull through and "Stay Strong" just like Demi had done.

3.World Vision (@WorldVision)

I feel that World Vision is an amazing organisation. As described on their Twitter page, Work Vision is: A Christian relief, development & advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families & communities to overcome poverty & injustice.World Vision works to help individuals and groups improve the well-being of children and overcome poverty by transforming communities. It also sets aside money to help respond to world disasters by helping prevent disasters and rebuild after. Seeking Global Change is something that World Vision works to accomplish that I feel is very important. The world is unfair. Every day the unfairness of systems, such as politic systems, force people to live in poverty. World vision strives to end injustice and inequality by empowering communities affected by poverty to speak and stand up for their rights. World Vision helps by taking the voices of those living in poverty to fight to make a change. World Vision also presents the option to get involved with helping out or even sponsoring a child! For more information visit http://www.wvi.org . 

What I'm Into.

Throughout my school years, I have been involved in many activities and continue to dedicate myself to these activities while trying to make room in my busy schedule to participate in more! I love having something to do and become bored easily. I think this is because at a very young age my parents had me participate in art classes, skating, girl guides, piano lessons, girl quest camps and swimming lessons. As I got older I lost interested in most of these activities but quickly found many more that met my interest.

            Since primary school I have been involved in sports. Without sports I really do not know how I would be able to survive. Cross country running is one of my favourite sports. My mom runs everyday and she started to get me to run with her when I was little and I have continued to run since. I like this sport because you can practice on your own time indoors or out and it keeps you active. I also like how it is an interest me and my mom, and also some of my friends share. I play many other sports in school such as basketball, volley ball, cheerleading, badminton, softball and soccer. I like playing team sports because it is a way to socialize, have fun and get exercise. In particular, I love the tournaments, especially when it involves going on a trip with the team. Swim team is another activity that I had participated in. It was a really good workout and helped me get my endurance up for running. I participated as a member on the swim team for 7 years but because my schedule became overloaded and because I got a job at the pool I had to make a decision between swim team and all of the school sports. Besides sports, I dance 3 nights a week as a member of Danceworx studio. I have been involved in dance for 11 years and have taken ballet, jazz, and modern classes. Also I got the chance to take some hip hop and contemporary workshops for professional dances. I enjoy dancing because it is a time I can look forward to on school nights where I can take a break from my school work to spend with friends. I am extremely excited for dance this year because I am participating in a dance competition and get to host and dance in this year’s recital. I have been a little musical my whole life but would not consider myself any sort of musician! I mainly enjoy music as a hobby. When I was little, as I mentioned I played piano, but I lost interest and began to look for another instrument to play. In junior high I played flute in the band for a year but did not enjoy it. That is when I turned to guitar. I took guitar lessons for a few months but had to stop because I was too busy! I did not want to give it up because I loved it so I continued to teach myself how to play and I still play! I have been in school choirs since primary school and now I am involved in the glee club at my school. I enjoy public speaking and I have participated in many speak offs. This led me to get involved in drama and improv which I really enjoy! I have been a part of plays at the drama festival and this year I am still involved in these events.

            All of my activities presented to me many opportunities to get involved in volunteering. I have helped out at cross country runs because of my involvement with running. Also I have volunteered a number of times at swim meets timing, marshalling, and at the canteen. Because of the great amount of time that I spent at the pool growing up for swimming lessons, swim team and work, I became involved as a coach for the Special Olympics Swim Club. This was one of my favourite experiences as a volunteer. I really enjoyed going and it was touching to see how every one of them have their own special qualities that made them who they are. I was a volunteer at the swim club all of last year, every Wednesday night. However, because of my hectic schedule this year, I was not able to take part in it. I really miss going to help out and I am crossing my fingers that next year I can allow to take some time out of my busy schedule to go and volunteer.  School sports have also given me chances to volunteer. I help set up for tournaments that we host in our school and also volunteer to do the clock and score sheets for the games, sit at the door to collect money, or run the canteen. I enjoy volunteering at the games to show school spirit by cheering on our team and lending a hand while socializing a little too! Because of my involvement in cheer and dance I got to participate in many community events. Some of the events that I got to volunteer at, this year and previous years, were the Relay for life and the Santa Claus parades in our town and other near by towns, Fashion shows, Recitals, and even Pageants. I enjoy stepping out to participate in these community events by helping to set up, perform and clean up. It is a great way to have fun while taking part in your activity but to also do your share to help out your community. One of my favourite things to volunteer at is counselling at Burry Heights Church Camp. This year I had the opportunity to go to the camp that I have camped at for many years as a camper and get to council. Looking after lots of kids can be tough but it was an experience that I would not change for the world. It was great to get to use my leadership qualities; also having the kids look up to me as a role model was touching. I loved every minute of that week and will continue to council for as long as I possibly can!

            I still continue to volunteer. If the chance is presented I take it! I love being able to help out when I can because the feeling of volunteering is rewarding. My activities have not changed drastically in the past few years. I am still involved in most things that I have been in previous years and will continue to be as long as my schedule can accommodate them. Little things such as the instrument that I play, style of dance that I do have changed but I have not changed the activities that I take part in. I love everything that I am into and even though it is hard trying to balance my schedule to make time for my activities, school work and time with my friends I would not change it for the world. What I do makes me who I am.

TED Video.

            The video that I have chosen is called “3 things I learned while my plane crashed”. http://www.ted.com/talks/ric_elias.html. I chose this video because it made my mind take in a million thoughts with every word that Ric Elias said as he told his inspiring story. Another reason why I chose this video was because exactly a week from today, last Sunday, thoughts similar to Ric’s went through my head. Before I explain the video, I will briefly tell you about what happened last Sunday.

            I woke up and started in with my Sunday routines. Stayed in bed until 12 doing homework and studying and then went to my Nan and Pop’s for dinner. I had the Carbonear Santa Claus parade today, so I went to meet my dance group at the Hospital to begin. The parade ended up taking a different, and much longer route than ever before, and the weather turned from light snow to heavy winds and hail. Finally when the parade was over, my friend called her dad to come pick us up. He said there was no way he could get to the area that we were because all the roads were still blocked off. We started back tracking the parade route to meet her dad to pick us up. As we were walking in the cold we were complaining about having to walk, how long the parade was, how tired we were and how we wanted hot chocolate after to get warmed up again. Suddenly, while walking past all the floats of the parade, we heard a man speak who must have overheard us complaining. He said “Girls, cheer up! You did a great job dancing, and I know it may be cold… But smile! It is Christmas!” We smiled, thanked him and kept walking until we reached the car to go home.

            In the video, Ric talked about how life can change in an instant. He talked about how people take things for granted sometimes and how certain experiences can change your view towards many situations. Ric had been on a plane that was in the process of crashing. After viewing smoke and noticing the plane changing direction, he heard the pilot say three life changing words “Brace for impact”. Thoughts shot through Ric’s head and at that instant he thought that this was it… Life was over. This one emotional experience changed his life. It was then that Ric learned 3 things about his self….

The first thing that Ric had learned was that he had a whole new meaning for the phrase “it all can change in an instant”. He thought about what he wanted to do in his life, the people he wanted to reach out to but could not, and the things that he wanted to do but never did. He realized that he no longer wanted to postpone anything anymore.

The second thing that he realized was his one regret. He regretted the time that he wasted on things that did not matter. As he thought about his family he reflected back to things that had happened. Ric decided to eliminate the negative energy in his life. This made him see his life as being better. He never had a fight with his wife in a while and said that he no longer tries to be right… He chooses to be happy.

The final and third life changing thought that impacted Ric’s life was that dying was not really that scary. He felt that he was preparing for it his whole life. He did not want to go because he loved his life and family and found thinking about it very overwhelming and sad. He had only wished that he would be able to see his kids grow up. A month later, while attending a show of his daughter’s it made him very emotional, and things started to make sense to him. He then realized that the only thing that matters to him is being a great dad… that is his only goal.

Ric claims that he was given a huge gift throughout his terrifying experience. He simply states that this gift was seeing into the future that day to be able to come back again living differently. He was thankful to be alive and thankful to receive the huge impact that his frightening experience had held on his life.

By now you have probably forgotten about my story about Sunday past, but it will all tie together soon enough. About an hour after the parade was over the news about a horrible accident spread around town. My friend called to tell me  that it did not look to be good. He said there were white screens up blocking the road and a lot of emergency vehicles. My stomach suddenly dropped as I thought about the accident. My mom came through the door and told me it was a man from the motorcycle float dressed as the “Grinch”. She told me that on the way home, after winning an award for the best float, he fell through the bars of his wooden cage on the float while the truck was driving around the turn and got ran over. He was killed. Hearing this drew tears to my eyes and made my stomach drop even lower down as I began to shake. He was the man who told us the message; “Girls, cheer up! You did a great job dancing, and I know it may be cold… But smile! It is Christmas!”. This was my first time hearing this man speak, seeing him and responding to him but it held a great impact on my life.

With the shocking news in my mind, many more thoughts, similar to Ric’s filled my head. I began to think about how fragile life is. The man woke up in the morning just like I did, thinking it was a normal day. The thought of his death probably did not even cross his mind… But life can change in an instant. Thinking back to my dance class and complaining about the coldness and the extra few kilometres that we had to walk made me feel stupid and selfish. I realized that there are major things in life and there are minor. This was minor. I realized that there are people suffering with worse situations than sore legs and cold shivers. I came to the conclusion that I overreact a lot of times and set a goal for myself to stop and think whenever I am in a situation that I feel is horrible. I concluded that everyone will face little problems and stresses everyday but they are not the end of the world. For this man it was the end of his world. I began to direct my thoughts to his family. I knew of his son, a boy in grade nine. It was so close to Christmas and the boy would never be able to be with his father again. The man’s wife would now be alone raising her kids. It seemed all so unfair and unreal to me. This was not a minor situation for this family… this was major. It all happened so quickly with no notice to anyone. I wished that I could turn back the time to prevent this all from happening…  But I could not… No body could.

I also came to realize that in life there are many things that can change how you view the world or even change how you feel about something, if it is your experience or just hearing about someone else’s. I was impacted by this horrible event that I wish I could put out of my mind but I can not because of the changes it has made to who I am. I try not to think negatively as much as I used to and I try to wake up, thinking “this will be a good day”… thinking more positively.

After clicking this video and hearing the first few sentences I knew I was in for an emotional ride. I knew it would impact me. For some of you, you may not connect as well to this video as I do. Maybe you have not had an experience that made this video impact you like it did to me. Try putting your self in a life changing situation and think about the answers to these questions. How would you as a person change? How would your feelings towards other things change? What would you have done differently in the past? Like Ric, I now learnt to appreciate the things and people in my life even more. I thought back to all the times in the past that I wasted being upset over minor things and realized that if only I had changed the situation, or not allowed myself to make a big deal out of the little things, I would not have had as many bad things in my life. Instead my life would have been filled with more things that were good if I simply would have thought positively, looked back and realized that the situation is not all that bad and I will get through it. If only I had thought about the people suffering from much harder and unbearable situations than the ones I was going through. I hope after reading this and watching the video, Ric Elias and I have made you think. I hope we have made even a little impact on your life. You only have one life… Make the best of it and live it to the fullest. 

All About Me!

Hi, my name is Alana Loveys. Throughout my life I have been involved in many activities that allowed me to develop leadership qualities. Along the way, these qualities have helped me become involved in many leadership and volunteering opportunities. Growing up I was a member of Girl Guides. Besides becoming involved with my community and volunteering with various events, Girl Guides had helped me obtain many new friendships and gave me the chance to discover new interests. Later, I joined the Poseidon Swim Club. With many years of swimming experience behind me and after completing my Bronze Medallion, AWSI and WSI courses, I applied for a job as a swimming instructor. The experience of working at the pool has helped me learn how to communicate with parents and children and has also helped me learn how to get along with co-workers and respect authority. Having a job along with balancing my many extra curricular activities has also helped me learn how to manage my time properly. My love for swimming and teaching gave me the opportunity to become involved as a volunteer coach for Special Olympics. Every Wednesday night for an hour I would help children and adults with special needs learn how to swim. This was such an amazing experience. I learned how important it is to have respect for others. It was touching to see that the Special Olympics athletes had their own special qualities and all they asked was to be treated equally. It is an amazing feeling to know that you have contributed to making a positive difference in someone’s life.

Recently we had a presentation at our school about volunteering as a part of the Career Development course. The speaker mentioned how people do not volunteer for money but they still end up getting paid. At first this confused me. As I thought a little harder, I soon realized exactly what the speaker meant. The good feeling that you get from volunteering and the knowledge that you made a difference is your reward… not money. Being able to relate to this with my experience of Special Olympics, I discovered that it was then that I became inspired and interested in volunteering. Along with swimming and Special Olympics, I volunteered at many swimming events, banquets and even swim meets. My interest and involvement in cross country running resulted in my participation in a 10 kilometre race to raise money for the Terry Fox foundation for the past three years. Through my involvement with dance at Danceworx studios, and also cheerleading, I also get to perform at several important community events such as the Relay for Life and Annual Fashion show to raise money for the Trinity Conception Health foundation.

For as long as I can remember, I have attended the Burry Heights Church Camp every summer. My love for camp, the “magic” and the high energy that it brought to me each year kept me going back for more. It was there that I gained confidence, became less shy and could be myself. This past summer I was finally old enough to be a volunteer councillor at camp for a week. The feeling that counselling brought to me was even more positive than the feeling that I experienced as a camper. It gave me butterflies to see the kids open up and bond with me. It was such a great feeling to know that I was helping bring the magic of camp that I once felt into the lives of many other children. The way the kids looked up to you as their role model, thanked you for the fun that they had, and cried on your shoulder before they left that week saying how much they’ll miss you was enough to make me feel that good feeling of volunteering yet again. I love the smiles the kids bring to their face and mine as I see them again outside of camp, and the way that they run to you to give you a hug and say how they wish you could council them again. These opportunities, along with many others have also helped me become more and more involved with leadership.

Besides the many sport teams that I have been a part of throughout the school years that have helped me learn to work as a team, school has offered me a variety of educational activities that permitted me to get even more involved with leadership and volunteering. At school, ever since Jr. High, I have been a member of the student council in many positions such as Class Representative, Vice President and President. Being involved in student council opened me up to many new possibilities to volunteer and gain leadership skills. I discovered out how much I loved public speaking, not only in front of the school for many events, but in speak off competitions in French and English too. I became interested in making school more fun for everyone by volunteering to organize many school events and activities, such as dances, and themed weeks. A Provincial Student Leadership Conference and even a Canadian School Leadership Conference were yet other positive outcomes of being involved with Student Council. These conferences have helped me develop even more leadership skills by making many new friendships and learning from other leaders. The conferences brought an experience of a life time that I was grateful to be able to take part in. Events such as choir gave me that chance to participate in a student music exchange to Ontario where we were able to visit many schools outside of Newfoundland and show them our type of music by singing Newfoundland folk songs. We also had to chance to hear other choirs and bands perform their music to us. Drama and Improv at school also helped me develop leadership skills. I got the chance to act in many Christmas concerts, plays and take part in the Drama Festival where I attended many workshops that were both helpful and fun. How can I forget the MOST AMAZING opportunity that school has given me? School gave me the chance to apply for HORIZONS where I became a Horizons student and was permitted to take part in the Leadership Development Weekend where I got to meet many new people across the island that had similar interests as me. The many enjoyable activities that took place that weekend helped my pre-existing leadership skills to grow. It was an amazing experience which had a huge impact upon my life in such a short amount of time.

In the future I am still not one hundred percent sure which career path I will take. However, I have already learned that the best things in life are worth working for and I will put one hundred percent into whichever career path I choose. I am also sure that I will continue to seek opportunities that involve leadership and volunteering. I value the difference that these two elements have made in my life thus far and I look forward to future opportunities to share my enthusiasm with others.