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Over the course of summer, some exciting volunteering projects definitely occurred, such as GlobalFest, Afrikadey!, Shakespeare in the Park, ExpoLatino, and the Bow River Flow Festival! However, Camp Bonaventure spans over the whole summer, and is undoubtedly one of the most fun and unique volunteer projects available through Youth Central! Every day is different, and I definitely recommend the project, as it was both a blast and a extremely eye-opening experience for me.

Organized by the Between Friends Club, it’s the only summer camp in Calgary that provides silly and fun camp songs,  enjoyable and challenge-oriented activities, and a friendly, engaging environment for individuals with disabilities. Also available to those without disabilities as well, Camp Bonaventure focuses on creating a experience of a lifetime with adventure, lots of fun and the chance to make new friends. Learn more about the camp here.

Minnows, Chipmunks, Otters, Badgers, Wolverines, Coyotes and Grizzlies, oh my! With Day troopers?! These are the names of the various age groups that campers are split into, with minnows being the youngest, and the day troopers being the oldest age group.

Did I mention we needed camp names?! When you volunteer at camp, how do you get into the spirit of exploring “the great outdoors”? Singing lots of silly but fun camp songs, and a distinctly unique camp name. Luckily, I chose my camp name before stammering, and thus was given one on the spot. Mine became NINJA, however my friend, unluckily, was thought of somewhat resembling corn, so she became CORN. Another friend became SUNFLOWER, and another DAISY. Perhaps I should have stuck with the theme of yellow plants, and been CANOLA. Oh well, because once you choose a name, you’re stuck with it for the rest of your volunteering-at-camp-life. It’s even better when you have names in your same group that just naturally form cooler words when combined. Such as an individual possessing the name SOLAR, and just for kicks, picking the name ECLIPSE, so there can be a SOLAR ECLIPSE in that group.

Worth mentioning are the awesome adventures and activities these campers get to participate in, such as: horseback riding, wall climbing, canoeing, golf, sailing,  swimming, and several other activities involving arts and crafts! Although I didn’t participate in sailing and canoeing like I hoped, swimming was definitely a great experience! Reserving the entire pool that day for the use of the group, many campers proved to have excellent swimming ability, though many campers chose to faithfully stick to inflatable tubes, volunteers, staff and aids for the duration of time we spent in the pool.

Camp Bonaventure is a project that rewarded my volunteering efforts with a learning experience, like volunteering at the Drop-In Center. At first, I had to admit, I was simply petrified and nervous. I don’t encounter many people with disabilities in my daily routine and lifestyle, and this camp was the first time I’ve ever experienced them in a large group and was responsible for their care. I was frankly in a psychologically uncomfortable position. However, as the day went by, I learned most campers were happy, friendly, and quite verbal people that were rather easy to get along with. They weren’t all that different from people without disabilities, with the exception of developing and learning at a different pace. For a while, you completely miss the difference and start truly enjoying your camp experience unguarded. So I thank this volunteer experience, as it completely taught me to not simply tolerate individuals that pose different aspects from us, but to accept them as no different as you or I. I mean we all have one goal: to have fun.

So if you are in for an exhilarating adventure a or a meaningful learning experience, either way, you know, you’re going to have fun.

Desiree Dang is a hopeful dreamer.

Why?

She faithfully believes in the good of others and brings out their best. This amazing actress lives life in the moment and shares that it’s not only okay to channel your childhood, but we must also embrace the youth that often escapes the heart, like the simple happiness milk and cookies may bring.

This kind and compassionate soul inspires youth to let go and overcome the inhibitions and hurdles that prevent us from being who we are or who we may become.

Read on to find out more about Pearson graduate Desiree Dang and her charismatic opinions and advice on self discovery, life and success.

Desiree Dang

YAA: Please provide a quote, inspirational, happy, doesn’t matter.

Desiree: “Be who you are and say what you feel. Because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss

YAA: Describe your involvement at Pearson.

Desiree:  I was mainly involved in a school play called Wedgie. I was more of a drama kid. I enjoyed plays, or being in them, or even just on stage.

YAA: Describe your involvement in your community.

Desiree: In my community, you can find me at the playgrounds playing with children. Sounds kind of creepy, but there was a kid alone, and guess who played grounders with him or her? I hate seeing little kids upset when someone doesn’t play with them. Kinda reminds me of how when I was in elementary, it was so hard to fit in. Nowadays kids just want to grow up, with make-up and all that stuff. Funny, when we grow up we want to be young again. I love being a kid, and I think kids should be kids.

YAA: Describe why you believe you are successful.

Desiree: There’s this quote “There are three kinds of people: those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those who don’t know what’s happening.” I make things happen, and I’m confident in what I do.

YAA: Share a favourite memory that was at Pearson.

Desiree: Remember Wedgie!

YAA: Describe some of you hobbies that you do in your spare time.

Desiree: I like to listen to music, be on the computer, spend time with my friends, and play at the park for the most part. Other times I’m trying to make something, like web sites- HTML! Or trying to learn how to cook. Or even colouring.

YAA: Provide some advice.

Desiree: You will have your ups and downs, lose yourself, find yourself in a dark place and feel like there’s no one out there. You have to keep hope, and believe in yourself. You will always find that when you are looking for yourself, you will grow, cry and everything in between, you will find things that’s you really love doing. People are going to hate, but who cares- live and love life to the fullest, and who you will be is what you will become.

YAA: Describe what you are planning to pursue after high school.

Desiree: I plan on pursuing acting after I finish accounting, and perhaps invest in singing and dancing lessons.

YAA: Why do you choose to be who you are?

Desiree: I might be loud, crazy, silly, but that’s who I am. A lot of people know me as the girl that doesn’t care what people think.

YAA: Describe your personality.

Desiree:I am a hyper, funny, happy, go-lucky girl and really outgoing. I like to go with the flow, let things happen naturally. If I do something wrong, I will go and fix it. I want to live life to the fullest, and I believe in the impossible. Dreams do come true, if you at least try for it. I do zone out a lot, and I’m clumsy, even when I try not to be, and then end up falling or spilling something. I love my cartoons, like Pokemon, and I enjoy milk and cookies before bed time- so I guess you can say that I’m a big kid at heart. I will also go out of my way to help someone, and I will be that friend that helps pick up a friend when they are down, or is having a bad day. I stand by my friends no matter what, because I believe in them. Sometimes maybe a little too much at times, but its to make people smile everyday, that’s my goal in life.

YAA: Do you believe you are a positive role model for other youth?

Desiree: I think I show youth that it’s okay to be yourself, be silly, and crazy.

YAA: If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?

Desiree: Global warming, it’s killing the poor polar bears.

YAA: What do you hope to gain through your pursuing your passions?

Desiree: Happiness.

I have a bike, I have a river, and I have some time. What should I do with all three? Volunteer at the Bow River Flow Festival, or bike around the Bow?

The Bow River, Image Credit: Kevin Saff, Wikimedia Commons

I did both at the second annual Bow River Flow Festival, promoting self-powered transportation, environmental art, and celebratory music occurring alongside Memorial Drive. Not so long ago, this festival encouraged self-sustainability for Calgarians and other modes of transportation – not only cycling, but transit, walking, and even skateboarding. This celebration aimed to educate and engage Calgarians- even with guest speaker and Olympic medallist Kristina Groves, who gave a press conference on taking responsibility and realizing the impact her carbon footprint made. This Clean Air speed skating champion was definitely a motivational and charismatic character, encouraging myself to be aware of my own carbon footprint and reminding me of the natural beauty of the Bow River, often taken for granted by sensually-adapted Calgary.

This festival also meant to highlight and celebrate the Bow itself, as a central component of Calgary culture, recreation, leisure, attraction, and much more, being directly located in the heart of Calgary. The habitat for many ducks and geese, (not to mention a lot of fish!), rocky shores lined with dusty pebbles and bike paths, eroding shelves of soil, turbulent rapids- a perfect destination for glorious pictures and running regiments on paths harbouring beside the Bow- we sometimes forget to appreciate this river that flows through our city. So many families and individuals stopped by and joined us, invited to draw colourful and lively chalk pictures on the road, dip their feet into pails of colourful paint and decorate the sidewalks, and even participate in mini bike races along Memorial Drive! Many mayoral candidates certainly enjoyed their mini bike race they partook that day, judging from the youthful delight in their faces, and the hilarity in the general difficulties of operating a child-sized bike.

Mayoral mini bike race, Couresty of Bow River Flow

My favourite aspect of this event was when I was able to battle against a peculiar man in a red and white checker suit. The duel you ask? Well, I could hardly pass the chance to participate in one of my favourite pastimes being that of- CHESS. Hunkering down onto a quaint folding chair, and facing my opponent across a painting of a chessboard, set in a majestic gold frame, the peculiarities of playing against a man in a checker suit and on a painting did not stop there. To my surprise, I was intrigued by the fact that I had all 18 of my ebony wooden pieces to play with, but my opponent did not. He had a depleted army of seven pieces, consisting of pawns, two knights, and a lonely bishop! He had played previous games before mine, and had quaintly given his pieces away to each adversary that had dared to challenge him, acknowledging their game. With little difficulty, my oppressive and overwhelming army successfully checkmated his king, and I in succession had received an autographed chess piece (a pawn, and sitting quite respectfully on my bedroom table) as a memory of our epic chess battle.

Don’t worry, there was a subsequent lesson from this rather strange chess game, even though the man in the checkered suit wasn’t even a professional chess player! He was an advocate for the arts in Calgary, and suggested in a cryptic answer, even when probed, was perhaps the game represented the Bow River itself, the more we take away from the river, the less dividends we can expect to be returned. The more chess pieces he gave away, the less likely it was he was going to win the subsequent game.

Nonetheless the afternoon was fairly enjoyable despite the unexpected downpour, and involved many families in activities that not only engaged Calgarians, but also educated and encouraged them to “ride the drive ”- carpool, take transit, ride a skateboard, bike, rollerblade or walk instead of driving a car.

The Bow River, Image Credit: Wikipedia

For more great volunteer projects to get involved in, visit Youth Central’s website here.

Two weeks ago, my very last meeting for the summer Youth Volunteer Corps steering committee ended! With our very small group of no more than 3-4 volunteers meeting at a time, this year’s summer YVC meetings were dedicated to organizing a major project for next year’s YVC’s steering committee, Empty Bowls 2010/2011.

The Summer YVC Steering Committee researched into potential “celebrity” scoopers for this year’s Empty Bowls, experimented with different methods to create “thank you” mosaics for our sponsors, approved potential YVC projects, and discussed redesigning the traditional “fill-a-bowl” aspect of Empty Bowls, deciding what they should look like.

Be sure to volunteer for this year`s YVC Steering Committee to get involved in this fantastic project!

For more, and how you can get involved, visit the website here.