I was never a camp counselor or part of school council/government or the captain of a sports team. This, despite being repeatedly told by teachers on report cards, employers, family and friends that I, in fact, was a natural leader. One of my few regrets in life is that I hadn’t fully realized this leadership potential until now. The culmination of my drive to become deeply involved in some extracurricular and volunteer activities post-graduation was likely due to my consumption in my academic studies, but also a feeling of discouragement. I feel like there was a disconnect between what it meant to be involved or part campus clubs and volunteer organization versus being on the executive/board of that particular group. I’d like to elaborate on my frustrations below.
In highschool, I was a dedicated student (probably more so than I needed to be) but in comparison to many of my classmates I worked far too hard in highschool to achieve good grades and yet we both went on to postsecondary institutions. My lack of involvement, besides a playing field hockey and soccer for my highschool and figure skating, was likely part and parcel to school politics (essentially popularity contests) and the sheer volume of students at my high school. At the peak of enrollment when I was in grade , our school was pushing 1500 (I believe), with 30 portables to boot. The population remained high until I was in grade 10 and the double cohort year graduated concurrently (leading to quite a overwhleming amount of applicants to postsecondary institutions, of which my sister was unfortunately a part of but got through unscathed). Although this explanation may come off as just a lame excuse, it certainly limits the amount of people who stand a chance to participate in sports, extracurriculars and clubs within the school. When I tried out for the soccer team, (I believe I tried out 3 out of the 4 years) I was completely outnumbered (even as a fairly skilled house league player) by the many other girls who played in rep leagues around the GTA, who were essentially shoe-ins. Consequently, I only ever made the team once, and sat as a back up goalie to a team member who had rep experience until I was finally given the chance to play and didn’t comparatively well. Consider the competition I would experience for other school activities for my four years.
When I applied to university in my final year, I was enthused and amazed by all the clubs available at my chosen institution (over 150 at the time and growing every year). The possibilities were endless… not to mention that I would actually stand a chance to be an active club member, without limitations due to population or popularity! Going into residence I wasn’t worried about a shortage of social activities, but reveled with the thought that I could take part in anything from an improv club to day-traders to activism groups, such as STAND. What a thrill! As clubs week rolled around, I made sure to diligently explore all my possibilities before committing to a few carefully selected clubs, based on my interests and ability to commit to them. In the end, I made a few charitable donations to clubs that I believed in, but didn’t think I would have the time or energy to put into. I joined the Leafs Fans at Western, mostly for the opportunity to attend a Leafs game in Buffalo for a good price (having been a TML fan all my life, I had yet to experience a live NHL game). I also joined the Western Snowboarding Federation (and wasn’t able to go on any of their trips due to school work conflicts), and a club devoted almost entirely to celebrating school spirit by drinking (something I wasn’t legally entitled to do as I was 18 for most of my first year). These weren’t necessarily the smartest choices to hone my leadership skills or explore my interests, but they were all clubs I thought would allow me to have a little fun without disturbing my studies too much.
After first year, I smartened up a little and joined the environmental club on campus, called EnviroWestern, in addition to a few more charitable donations to worthy causes/clubs, plus my Biology Undergraduate Society. I had always had a passion for the environment and figured this club would provide an outlet for that, while I made a difference on campus. This commitment to the club was certainly a good choice, the club’s organization seemed to impede any real involvement in any meaningful activities. The emails to club members were merely notes to acknowledge what the board/president/executive few had accomplished, advertise a meeting to discuss future social activities and sell t-shirts. This was not quite the membership involvement I had anticipated. From my perspective, it appeared that the only time you could take part in the meaningful activities of a club was if you were an important member of the club’s board. If you did not hold a resume-padding position, the least you could do was buy some swag and come out to a bar night. I was still the diligent student, so I believed my priorities should still be to achieve good grades in my program first and foremost, rather than expend all my energies for a club. I had seen the toll it took on my sister, who had aspirations of journalism and spent every waking moment in the office of our daily student newspaper, editing and planning away the next day’s issue. Granted, she loved it and found herself a career path in something she loved and is now pursuing at a master’s level.
Unfortunately for me, I did not experience any real life-changing, self-improvement opportunities in university through some of the amazing extracurriculars and clubs at my disposal. Another factor in play here was a very consuming, long distance relationship, in which I realized only AFTER the split how much of myself I truly sacrificed personally for the sake of my partner. It was a very costly mistake in hindsight, but brought me to a much healthier attitude focused on my well-being and happiness by getting more involved where I could, going to the gym and becoming more social. This self-realization came 3 years too late, but did help me get to where I am today – ready and eager to get involved! My final year was more successful than all three years put together: FINALLY becoming a writer for the paper that my sister was now EIC of (after 3 long years of persuasion to come and write), joining the Western Young Liberals and a handful of other previously-joined endeavours with more energy and participation this time around.
Upon graduation, I had the unthinkable task of moving back home into the doldrums of the suburbs. I was not looking forward to being in a city where the flurry of activities I was accustomed to in a university town, pervaded the older, middle-class population that put a higher value on strip malls and big homes, than community and volunteering. I figured I would not be afforded the numerous opportunities for clubs, extracurriculars and volunteering that I took for granted at Western. Ironically enough, I soon discovered that it was raining opportunity here.
During the summer, my father forwarded me an email about an event for Oakvillegreen Conservation Association. My dad, who has not been an active member of the group for a few years, frequently received notifications from the group about upcoming events, news and calls to action. My dad was certainly well-intentioned, knowing full-well that I was bored to death (due to a poor summer work season, compounded by the recession) and so I decided to go for it. The event was a seminar dedicated to tutoring individuals how to initiate and run an effectual activism group given by the President, Liz. It was $20 to participate in “Organize to Win”, but I figured this would be a good place to start… afterall, my dad had suggested a number of times that I join the club, so I went partly to stop the nagging. The seminar was very informative (despite being an individual not concerned with starting a group of my own) and successful. Coming out of the seminar, I was in talks with the President and the Manager of Marketing and Outreach regarding working on communications strategies, memberships and a youth initiative! All because I made a stink about being the youngest person in the room. It was concerning to me that there was no one at this seminar even in my generation! I just thought..”this isn’t right”. This led to an initial meeting where I expressed my frustrations with involvement in the past and my keenness to get my hands dirty. I was immediately welcomed, ushered to take part in everything I could and given numerous areas where I could actually help.
Since that meeting, I’ve been working closely with them to emulate our sister organization, Burlingtongreen’s, Youth Network including using social media to target youth, work on improving membership, planning events and volunteering at as many Oakvillegreen events I can get to. As they say, “when it rains, it pours”… but in a good way. I’ve been awarded such fabulous opportunities here to gain some real experience in marketing, communications, event-planning, etc.. and they just keep coming in! It’s been exciting and heart-warming (not to up the cheese too much) to be given the chance to ACTIVELY participate in the going-ons of the organization. It’s quite a different experience from the poster-making, t-shirt buying memberships I bought before. This is something that Oakvillegreen does particularly well with all of their members, but I am still completely grateful. I forgot to mention that they are now offering their support to help me host a town hall for my trip the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark this December. This is the kind of involvement I had only dreamed of, whereby I am now motivated to do as much as I can for them because they have done so much for me. This drives a cycle that encourages involvement when people see what they can actually do and thus go on to encourage others to do the same.
I am also a Young Liberal. I have to say I’ve become a little disenchanted by the differences in response to youth involvement between Oakvillegreen and the Liberal Party. I want to preempt this all by saying, I am a proud member and have a birth-right membership (my parents met at a Liberal conference), but I’ve discovered a flaw in their strategy to attract new members and develop a grassroots movement: a lack of youth involvement. When I came home from school, I also actively sought out my riding association to get involved in local politics. I’ve attended event after event since as one of the youngest people in the room (not such a bad thing, I guess), but it speaks to a weakness. I’ve been to a dinner with John McCallum, a wine and cheese event with Michael Ignatieff and Martha Hall Findlay (M&M), the Green Energy Act night with George Smitherman, BBQ’s with my local MPP and Liberal MP candidates, nomination meetings, debates….. many of these events were not particularly geared or targeted to youth, either due to price or the actual event proceedings. For example, the dinner event with McCallum was about $150 a head. My dad proudly financed my ticket to the event, I got a taste of a Liberal fundraising event and met lots of local Liberals. This is the type of event that draws out the long-standing, older members of the Liberal Party, which works well as a fundraiser; but there is a shortage of more affordable, fun and social events geared towards attracting youth to the party. This may be of course due to my riding composition being mostly non-Young Liberals, but I can’t believe that I am the lone youth interested in politics in Oakville. A lot needs to be done here to encourage young people to come out. This isn’t the story across the country (in the big cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal) but it is likely the norm for the smaller suburban and rural ridings that do not have a strong local party association. This is something that needs mending. After months of practically begging to become engaged and enveloped in my local Federal and provincial Liberal parties, I am only slightly closer to playing as active as a role as I am in Oakvillegreen. I’m going to keep chugging along. You can imagine my shock that it was only recently that I discovered the Oakville Young Liberals behind the email contact on the Young Liberals website. I was told they need some help and I should let them know I am keen to get involved. I’m hoping they take me up on my offer because I’m ready to go! These are my excuses and struggles, but others have noted a similar trend and understand how to fix it:
<a href=”I was never a camp counselor or part of school council/government or the captain of a sports team. This, despite being repeatedly told by teachers on report cards, employers, family and friends that I, in fact, was a natural leader. One of my few regrets in life is that I hadn’t fully realized this leadership potential until now. The culmination of my drive to become deeply involved in some extracurricular and volunteer activities post-graduation was likely due to my consumption in my academic studies, but also a feeling of discouragement. I feel like there was a disconnect between what it meant to be involved or part campus clubs and volunteer organization versus being on the executive/board of that particular group. I’d like to elaborate on my frustrations below. In highschool, I was a dedicated student (probably more so than I needed to be) but in comparison to many of my classmates I worked far too hard in highschool to achieve good grades and yet we both went on to postsecondary institutions. My lack of involvement, besides a playing field hockey and soccer for my highschool and figure skating, was likely part and parcel to school politics (essentially popularity contests) and the sheer volume of students at my high school. At the peak of enrollment when I was in grade , our school was pushing 1500 (I believe), with 30 portables to boot. The population remained high until I was in grade 10 and the double cohort year graduated concurrently (leading to quite a overwhleming amount of applicants to postsecondary institutions, of which my sister was unfortunately a part of but got through unscathed). Although this explanation may come off as just a lame excuse, it certainly limits the amount of people who stand a chance to participate in sports, extracurriculars and clubs within the school. When I tried out for the soccer team, (I believe I tried out 3 out of the 4 years) I was completely outnumbered (even as a fairly skilled house league player) by the many other girls who played in rep leagues around the GTA, who were essentially shoe-ins. Consequently, I only ever made the team once, and sat as a back up goalie to a team member who had rep experience until I was finally given the chance to play and didn’t comparatively well. Consider the competition I would experience for other school activities for my four years. When I applied to university in my final year, I was enthused and amazed by all the clubs available at my chosen institution (over 150 at the time and growing every year). The possibilities were endless… not to mention that I would actually stand a chance to be an active club member, without limitations due to population or popularity! Going into residence I wasn’t worried about a shortage of social activities, but reveled with the thought that I could take part in anything from an improv club to day-traders to activism groups, such as STAND. What a thrill! As clubs week rolled around, I made sure to diligently explore all my possibilities before committing to a few carefully selected=”></a>
<a href=”http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/705376″></a>
<a href=”http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/lets-not-blame-youth-for-general-voter-apathy/article1249910/”></a>
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