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!! :)