youth are awesome.com

I will start off this blog by simply telling you about a summer enrichment program in Canada that strives to inspire the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in the next generation of high-potential youth: this program is known as Shad Valley.

Before your eyes start drifting away as you scan below at blocks and blocks of text, stop.  Shad Valley is literally the best kept secret in Canada, and you could possibly be missing out on the greatest experience you can have in your entire high school career if you choose to ignore this amazing opportunity!

Shad’s mission statement states in short that they want to find the best, and make them better.  To sum it up in my own words though: 52 amazing youth in high school across Canada, stuffed into the residence of a University for an entire month, with a whole lot of laughter, and tears (Tears? More like a waterfall, but just keep reading).

The most important part of that statement though, was those 51 other unique and amazing individuals who shared the Shad experience with me, because at the end of Shad, it’s about the people you meet, who all have inspired you to become a better person – just because it’s the Shad way.

Even though 8 months have passed since Shad, there still hasn’t been a day where I have not thought about it, or had it not affect my life in some way.  My Shad program leader had said at the beginning that by the end of Shad, you would be, “a changed person forever,” and of course me being a skeptic, I didn’t believe him – and now I’m forced to eat my own words.

I’ve told you a lot so far, but I was never a telling sort of person, so I guess I will show you some of my own experiences that I had at Shad so you can see for yourself.

The most amazing things I did for Shad are hard to pin down, because I can say without a doubt that there was not a single day I had that I regretted (Although sleeping in a mosquito ridden tent during a camping weekend comes close ^_^;).

One of the first things I remember doing was spending Canada day in downtown Ottawa.  Have you ever been in Ottawa for Canada Day? Because I don’t think I have ever seen so many people concentrated in one area in Canada, ever.

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Born in the small town, Clavering, Essex, of England, Jamie Oliver is a English chef with a vision to change the way we eat.  For the past decade, Jamie has launched numerous campaigns in United Kingdom raising awareness about the importance of eating healthy food.  Now, he has extended his vision to change people’s habit of eating junking food in North America.

Earlier this year, he received the TED “prize wish,” and the theme of his wish is to teach American children about food, nurturing a generation who is conscious about the food they eat and in time, make Americans healthier, and help them live longer.  With the passing of America’s revolutionary health care bill, Americans are hopeful about their nation’s future health.  It is one thing to provide the medical care patients need; it is another to ensure all people are taking preventative measures to get out of clinics and hospitals.  In his TED “prize wish” talk, Jamie showed us the staggering statistic about the cause of death of most Americans: over a quarter are caused just by heart diseases alone, and another quarter by cancer, while less than 5% are caused by homicide.  Why have we only been informed about that 5% of the death?  Aren’t those other 2 causes of 25%, total more than 50% of death, more preventable?  Jamie believes, by having people eat more nutritious, fresh, homemade food while injecting less factory-processed  junk food into our system, we can easily lower that cause of 50% of death.  The statistic could not be more convincing  that healthy food isn’t just a choice, it is a need.

Sadly, there are still people out there eating junk food knowing the fatality that it brings, so why have we not been eating healthier???  Why have some people resisted such positive change???

Well, this is my theory. (more…)

Remember your childhood of folding paper airplanes and shooting them across the classroom, or maybe you still do now.  That is origami.  Origami comes from two Japanese words, ori and gami, and literally means ‘fold paper’.  This is an art form that takes ordinary paper to a whole new level, but origami is not restricted to just paper.  From awesome towel animals in hotel rooms, napkin swans on dinner plates, and even origami on toilet paper rolls; origami is everywhere!  Not only are they creative, but also very amusing to make and play with as well.

Basically any sheet material that can fold and hold a crease can be used for origami.  Check out some amazing creations folded simply from paper!  One could only wonder how much time and effort that goes into each of them.  My personal favourite is the big white dragon.

Instead of reading a book, magazine or the newspaper in the washroom, why not take your toilet paper roll and fold it into something unique.

Whether it is paper or toilet paper, there are many origami books and tutorials on YouTube so go try some out. Happy folding!

Now that March is almost over, things are beginning to be wrap up.

Places that I’ve been through, things that I’ve seen are all so memorable to me.  These are the things that I see, yet so hard to recapture off the top of my head. I wanted to keep them.

Some say, “there will always be a way.”

And yes, I did find a way.

PHOTOGRAPHY

I knew this could be IT

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I wrote a poem about the ongoing genocide in Darfur; let me know what you think in the comments section! If you want to learn more on what you can do to help or need more information, see 24 Hours for Darfur.

Innocence taken,
Righteousness faken,
The G-word mentioned not
the enemy will not be fought
the USA not stepping in
they don’t care if we lose or win
Discrimination, hate, and rape
Is it the people of Darfur’s fate?

How many lives must be lost?
They might gain land, but look at the cost
Everyone realizes but nobody acts
No lies, No mistake, these are the facts.
Some may have died, but the war is not over
Backward we retreat, Janjaweed blocked our way forward
Devils on horseback were their name
They’re sinking to hell, a bloody path to fame.

Last time, I showed you a dance called “sorry sorry_super junior” danced by the E.L.F at the Churchill’s Got Talent contest at Sir Winston Churchill High School.  This time, I’ve got two very talented singers for you to take a look at, and, amazingly, they only practiced the morning before the contest!  The connection that existed between them was amazing  and they both have very good voices.  Hope you enjoy the song!  There are two more performances to come!

During winter break, I had done a week of hot yoga classes and found them to be so relaxing, calming, and fun. I recommend a hot yoga class to everyone!  Hot yoga gives you an amazing feeling after each class. It’s perfect for getting away from everything and having some ‘you’ time.  If you ever feel tense or stressed, consider taking a class.  In Calgary, there are a variety of locations.  Click here to find a studio close to you!

Be More Chill is a novel by the author who wrote It’s Kind of a Funny Story.  Ned Vizzini reminds me of John Green -another great author.  I noticed a lot of similarities in their novels, but Ned Vizzini’s novels have a more original plot.

This novel follow Jeremy, and – like most teen novels about guys – he is a social outcast.  Jeremy is tormented by his peers and has only one friend.  That is until one night when he hears about “the Squip”.  The Squip is a fictional, edible, super computer.  It enters the blood stream of the person who ingests it, then enters the person’s brain where it makes mental suggestions to the user.  The Squip is as close to being ”all knowing” as a computer can be.  And our protagonist’s life changes when he finally gets his hand on one, but for better or for worse?

This is a great novel that I would recommend to all teen audiences.  Unfortunately this novel has a very vague ending which is one of my pet peeves.  Despite all that, Ned Vizzini is truly a great author and I hope to read more of his novels in the future.  I give this novel a 4.5/5

Cross Country by James Patterson is a recent novel of the “Alex Cross” series.  I had never read a novel from this series until I came across this one, but have heard a lot of good things about the series and of all the novels written by James Patterson.

The first thing I really appreciate about this novel is the fact that I didn’t have to read the previous novel of this series to understand what is going on.  I was able to jump right into the story without getting the feeling that I was missing something.

The novel starts with the lead character, Alex Cross, investigating brutal murders of two families in Washington D.C. one of the victims is Alex’s college sweetheart.  The investigation becomes more and more personal, while more murders of similar fashion occur.  This takes Alex to Africa in pursuit of the heartless killer… but things quickly turn for the worse.

This novel explores the brutality, corruption, and instability in Africa.  It provides the reader with a realistic representation of certain regions of Africa, but at the same time it presents a more human perspective.  When reading this novel I was constantly reminded of the movie “Blood Diamond”, the difference being that this novel more gruesomely follows a much more depressing plot.

Cross Country is an intense experience for any reader that can handle it, but I believe that it’s intended for readers above the age of 14.  This is another great novel and I give it a 4.5/5.

Since September of 2008 the fantastic American public radio network, NPR, has been offering early listens to select upcoming records on their website.  It’s called First Listen.

For a period of time (up to the date the album is officially released) you can stream an entire album from NPR.com.  It’s a pretty awesome service.

Available for a listen at this moment is MGMT’s upcoming album Congratulations.

Many of you will no doubt remember the hits Time to Pretend, Electric Feel, and Kids from the duo’s debut record, Oracular Spectacular.  Despite the success these singles brought the band, MGMT set out to make a single-less album.  This is an idea that really appeals to the hipster in me who shakes his head at those who only know a band for “that one song.”  The band is presenting the album as-is, without trying to direct the attention of listeners to a specific part.  They’re trying to get you to find out what you like most about the album yourself.

Anyways, give Congratulations a listen right here and see what you think.

And how about that trippy album art?

I love taking photos and I love taking awkward family photos.  Whenever I go through my families photo albums I laugh so hard when looking at a photo and asking “what’s happening” or “why is this happening”.  Well I stumbled upon a new website titled Awkward Family Photos.  It’s basically a website displaying peoples awkward family photos.  Here are some jems:

The Hair Salon must have been offering a great deal on perms.

Kids – Check.  Camera – Check.  Goat – Check

Best FB profile picture ever.

While doing research for a project on virtual identities this year, I spent a lot of time over at the Daedalus Project. Nick Yee, a research scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), dedicated about five years of his life to study Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). He’s the expert in the field, and is referenced in virtually every article on the subject.  I doubted that other scientists were doing similar research, so I was surprised when Jane McGonigal started talking about World of Warcraft in her speech on TED this week with regards to how “Gaming can make a better world“.

Jane is a game designer, and her goal for the next decade is to harness the gameplay hours of “Super-Empowered Hopeful Individuals” and use them to make positive change in the real world.  At the end of her presentation she introduced a number of games she has designed to achieve this, the most recent of which is Evoke.  Launched on March 12th, Evoke is a collaboration between Jane and the World Bank Institute that has users “evoke” real-word issues such as food security, poverty, human rights, education, and so forth.  It will run until May 3rd, at which time players who have successfully completed 10 challenges will be dubbed certified “EVOKE Social Innovators” of the class of 2010.  Furthermore, the best of the best will be set up with online mentorships with various social innovators world-wide, and the chance to attend the EVOKE summit in Washington.

If you have a problem, and you can’t solve it alone, evoke it.

Evoke combines all the characteristics of an online game with social networking.  You level up and gain experience in knowledge, courage, collaboration, etc., and create a character like in any other game.  But the character is simply you.  Part of your mission is to piece together your hero story, but it’s really just an exercise in examining what skills and personality traits you possess that will help you as a social innovator. Every Wednesday a new mission is unlocked on the website, and users must “Learn,” “Act,” and “Imagine” to complete them, and they all have social networking components attached.  Most “Learn” components ask you to blog or vlog a response with your thoughts on a source, and how you can use them to change the world.  For the first mission, the “Act” component requires that you shadow a social innovator online, and perhaps even fire them an e-mail or two.  This video is the “trailer” for the game, and introduces many of the key components of the experience.

The great thing about this game is that it’s current.  It’s happening now, and it’s happening with youth.  It’s like going to a local conference and meeting other young activists, combined with gaming and self-exploration.  Whether you’re new to activism or simply looking for more fresh ideas and ways to make a difference, Evoke has benefits for everyone. You can learn more about how to play here and sign up here, but whatever you do, just don’t associate your Ning ID with the name “Sarah”. (The site has some rotten programming that causes accounts with that name to overlap and not work properly.  I was surprised to log in and find that I was apparently a very intelligent 15 year-old girl living in Toronto who had already completed most of the three available missions.)

Every school has hosted talent shows before, and even though it’s just for fun, most of contestants take it very seriously. Churchill’s Got Talent is a talent show hosted in Sir Winston Churchill High School and for everyone’s entertainment I will post some of the special performance.

This performance is a song called “Sorry Sorry” by Super Junior and it’s a very popular song.  My friend and I decided to do this dance because the song has a special meaning to us.  Hope everyone enjoys it!

Earth Hour: what started as an initiative to stop climate change in the city of Sydney, Australia quickly spread internationally and became a ‘global sustainability movement’…

…giving people a voice on the future of our planet and working together to create a sustainable low carbon future for our planet.

Why should you care?  Think about the fact that this is our only home and look how much resources we take from it.  So, why not try to reduce the damages and maintain it for the future generations to come by giving a back a little?  You don’t need to go out and plant dozens of trees (though that is not such a bad idea).  No, just the simple action of turning off the lights for 60 minutes will make a difference.

Whether you believe in ‘global warming’ or not, climate change is real and it affects us all.  By turning off your lights you are taking a stand and putting a vote towards a better future for this precious planet we call home.

Spread the word and remember to show your support for Earth by switching off your lights for an hour at 8:30 PM, Saturday March 27th.

One Earth. One Hour. Earth Hour.

I recently received an e-mail about this intense national youth competition in Canada known as Impact Microcredit.  I like to think of Microcredit as a war of entrepreneurs.  Teams of youth across Canada are given a small amount of $100 from Impact – hence the microcredit – and you invest it in a business venture to make as much money as possible within a period of ten days.

Wait, what’s Impact anyway?  Well, the Impact Entrepreneurship Group is the largest non-profit student-run organization in Canada dedicated to encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit within youth.  Actually, the person who started it was a Shad alumni, Kunal Gupta, who is now the CEO of his personally founded mobile software company Polar Mobile. (Go Shads!)

Back to the competition.  So, teams of 3-5 friends in high school from coast to coast compete vigorously from April 21st – 30th, pushing the boundaries of innovation and initiative to new heights.  In other words: they combine their passion for entrepreneurship, with their incredible ideas, and turn that $100 into as much money as they can.

So what do you do with the money after ten days?  Keep it, obviously.  Just kidding ^_^ Where would the altruism be in that?  That’s why all profits of the competition are donated to a charity of your choosing!  So, not only do you get to raise money for tons of worthy charities, but there are amazing scholarships and prizes up for grabs for all the teams that participate.

You can see a list of rules and important dates here, and basically all answers to any other questions you may have.  However, you must register before April 9th, and I’m sure none of you will miss that deadline because you’re already brimming with ideas!

$100.  10 Days.  One Challenge.
Make an Impact.