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Steven Leconte, Montréal (QC) ![]() Two years from now I was invited to go to a conference about child poverty, to share my feelings, my frustrations, to learn about what other youth of my age thought and much more. At first I wasn't sure why my friends and I wanted to go to this event. " Well, why should I be one of these 200 youth? " I asked myself. I understood the conference as a place where everyone went to voice out their concerns and everyone helps to find a solution (about child poverty). I was still unsure about the whole thing but I applied. I had the opportunity to go so I took it. When I got there I was really shy but I didn't stay that way for long. I surprisingly had a lot of things to say about the topic. I didn't want to go back home and I made sure that I had said everything I had on my mind. That experience was so good that I decided to stay involved with The Students Commission.
Jeff Denham, Toronto Ontario
Stephanie Collins, St. John's Newfoundland In 1998 I was standing in my high school guidance office, looking for guidance naturally, when I found a poster advertising a conference. It promised me a great time in the nation's capital and a chance to meet funky people. I figured I really had nothing to lose by simply sending in the application. To my surprise I was accepted and in August I spent the most amazing 5 days of my life with The Students Commission in Kemptville, Ontario. Sharing Resources 2000, the child poverty conference not only met its promises it exceeded them. The conference not only opened my eyes to social injustices in Canada it caused me to change a great deal. When I returned to St. John's, Newfoundland I became actively involved in helping those that lacked resources. I also began involving many other youth within in my school and community in the fight to end child poverty. Little did I know, the skills I had been using to develop community action projects were transferable and could improve all the other areas of my life such as my school work and the relationships I had with everyone around me. Over the years I've worked with various forms of media, learned how to research and deliver facts, give presentations, public speak, prepare a report, work on a team, and most importantly I learned how to be an effective leader. The Students Commission recognized these skills and gave me chance to put them to good use and develop them further as a member of their staff. As a team member I get to help other youth experience The Students Commission through our website, personal communication and annual conferences. If I'm ever faced with a problem I know that I have an amazing staff behind me. Each of us are very unique and have different skills and opinions that can be used to help one another out in times of need. Currently I embarking on a degree in Health Education. I hope to use the skills I learn through my four years in University to improve the work I do with The Students Commission and perhaps to create and develop projects from some of my own thoughts and ideas. I hope to offer youth who were like myself during high school the opportunity to find out what it is that they're good at and give them the chance to apply these things in a real life setting. |