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YOUTH ARE AWESOME

Youth Are Awesome, commonly referred to as YAA, is a blog written by youth for youth. YAA provides the youth of Calgary a place to amplify their voices and perspectives on what is happening around them. Youth Are Awesome is a program of Youth Central.

Any views or opinions expressed on this blog belong solely to the author and do not represent those of people or organizations that the blog may be associated with, unless explicitly stated. All content is for informational purposes only.

HomeBloggers of the MonthFebruary 2017 Blogger of the Month: Lucy Han

February 2017 Blogger of the Month: Lucy Han

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of sitting down for a light lunch with the first Blogger of the Month in the year of 2017, Lucy Han!  We had a lovely conversation at Friends, a local cafe with delicious food and a charming interior.  I am so happy that I was given the opporunity to interview this talented young lady- she was hilarious, insightful , and fun to talk to.

The little café we went to!

 

Lucy 🙂

As a grade eleven full-IB student at Sir Winston Churchill High School, it is apparent that Lucy is not only gifted academically but also in terms of her writing, which possesses a style that is simple yet effective.  Lucy is a middle child, being the second-oldest (or youngest, depending on how you look at it), and has a pet cat!  Although she loves her family, she has always wondered what it would be like to have a brother. A lover of nature and the colour green, Lucy is known in her family as the family tree hugger, and her favourite animal is the monkey! (I was surprised, because she is the first person I’ve know who prefers the monkey over other animals).

Like many students, growing up Lucy was actually never a big fan of writing- she was always insecure about what she wrote.

 I tried a bunch of times to start a journal, but it never lasted…

Although, never a huge fan of writing herself, as a child Lucy actually loved to read.  Reading was one of her favourite hobbies, and it has stuck with her as she has grown.  When she had the leisure time to read, Lucy read plenty of good books, but she says that her favourite(s) is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, because of how addicting the writing is.  Her favourite author is James Dashner, who wrote the world-famous Mazerunner series, which Lucy highly recommends!

Her love for reading actually contributes to both why she joined YAA, and her writing style.

Lucy had already joined the Mayor’s Youth Council, another sub committee of Youth Central.  She wanted to join another committee, and discovered the blog, Youth Are Awesome.  Being a busy student, like many of us, Lucy no longer has the time to constantly read novels for fun, she thankfully still had the time to read lots and lots of blogs! (I am thankful because that influenced her decision to join the website).

I was always into reading blogs, and I wanted to try writing them for myself.

And that she did- Lucy joined YAA in the fall of 2016, and her writing style has given a fresh, interesting and bright flavour to our website’s audience. Lucy’s pieces of writing touch on subjects that most people would not have the insight to write about.  Her writing epitomizes the purpose of Youth Central, because it demonstrates a perfectly unique youth perspective that captures a side of life otherwise unnoticed. When describing her writing style, Lucy says:

Casual.  I try to avoid being overly formal, because I want my readers to have as much fun reading my blogs as I have writing them. A lot of people use fancy words and it looks great, but that’s not for me.

She understands that busy students have busy schedules, so she wanted to create articles that students can read on the go and be entertained by.  If the article is short and interesting, it’s more likely that people will have the time to actually finish reading it!

Lucy’s consice yet extremely effective writing style adds so much to the YAA team, and when asked what she believes she brings to the table, Lucy states:

Everyone brings a certain sort of content.  As for me, I bring a different angle and perspective and writing style.  I get to add my own little spice into the cooking mix that is YAA.

Lucy adds flavour to the blogging team, but what does the team add to her life? Surprisingly a lot.  When I inquired about what Lucy likes the most about Youth Are Awesome, she gave the sweetest answer.

I originally thought that joining YAA would just improve my writing, but it has been so much more than that.  I found out things about myself that I never knew, and I got to meet the amazing youth blogging community.  Everyone is so nice and diverse and everyone is here for a different reason, and I think I will make friends for life.

I found it extremely interesting what Lucy told me about how her motivation to write is similar to a cycle.  She writes not only to improve her writing, but also to motivate herself.  Lucy often writes when she doesn’t feel like touching her heavy schoolwork.  She loves to write about motivation, because writing about motivation actually ends up motivating her to do her homework!

“Out of sight, out of mind.”, says Lucy.  When she begins to feel lazy, she writes about motivation. “A lot of my blogs are about motivation because I’m feeling lazy about homework.” What an effective way of both spreading inspiration to others and yourself!

As of now, Lucy’s favourite blog that she’s written is actually blog is actually “It’s okay, I’ll do it tomorrow.” She had loads of homework that day and wasn’t motivated to do it, but after writing it she became motivated.

Through her blogs, Lucy wants to provide content that people can look at over and over again, even if it’s just for fun.  She would love it if people read her blogs and shared them with other people, because she would like to “create the snowball effect”, which means that once one person reads her blog that person will share it with another, and so on and so forth.  She believes that her blogs will help people, because:

Blogs are about both learning things about the world and realizing things about yourself.

Lucy says that YAA has imporved her writing and has helped her to appreciate writing more.  She went from being insecure about her writing and avoiding writing if preferred, to writing in her free time.  Go Lucy! What a special journey from not liking writing to loving it, and the youth community is lucky that you now are confident enough to share your writing!

I especially admire the positive and risk-taking approach that Lucy takes on life with.  I asked her the question: “What would you tell bloggers who are hesitant to join YAA, but at the same time really want to?”

If it doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t, but you should at least give yourself a chance.  I was self conscious about my writing, but I decided to give it a shot, and continue with it if I liked it.  Who knew I would like YAA so much? It’s like a sport, or a book, that you want to try but are unsure about.  For example, when I was younger I really liked mystery books, but I decided to try something new and started reading the dystopian genre, which I ended up loving.

In the future, Lucy hopes to create a meaningful impact; to discover something new that the world is missing.

I would like to explore things that have not been explored too much and help people out, and make the world a better place, because we are all here for a reason. I want to do something that I know will have a lasting effect on people, and that will make them happy.

As a closing statement, Lucy ended off our conversation by lending a little advice to our readers:

Always try something new, because you never know what you’re gonna find.  There’s always gonna be something hidden that you try out and that you’re gonna love, and that will still with you for a long time.

Thank you Lucy for your lovely words, and after recieving the chance to get to know you I’m sure that you will accomplish your dream, make a difference in our world, and drastically change not one, but many peoples’ lives.

Congratulations once again to Lucy Han for being chosen as the February 2017 Blogger of the Month!

 

Danielle Leong
Danielle Leong
Hi there~ I'm Danielle, editor of Media, Science and Technology. I am severely dependent on hot beverages, and I love honeydew and carrot-flavored things. I have a huge imagination, and my favorite art is in the form of words (reading, writing, and speaking). I'm an optimist, and I find beauty in pretty much everything. My dream city is NYC, but since I love Canada too much I'll settle for Toronto. Do whatever makes you happy, and live every day to the fullest, because every moment only happens once.
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