I joined Youth Are Awesome nearly three years ago – I was with Youth Are Awesome in its very first year. I’ve seen the change of program coordination, the 1,000th post milestone, when we decided our website needed a revitalizing makeover,when Telus became our first major sponsor, and I’m proud to say I’ve grown along with Youth Are Awesome through its 2,000th post and beyond milestone.
I’ve learned three things while blogging for Youth Are Awesome so far in my three years: first, the more you blog, the better the writer you become. My very first blog was about an IB art show. It was simply horrid – silly grammar mistakes, long and daunting paragraphs and the only savior of the article was the great photographs of those people’s art. But, before I knew it and 93 posts later, you learn quickly what works and what doesn’t, what sounds likes a mysterious metaphor or rather dreadful rambling, and how to write blogs that engage the Calgary community about the awesome things that youth can be and are doing.
Secondly, when you enjoy writing about the interesting things that go on around you, you can’t help but become more involved and aware of your community (international or local). My favourite articles I’ve written for Youth Are Awesome are certainly the ones of my younger days volunteering with Youth Central- Camp Bonaventure, Bow River Flow, Drop In Centre, Inn From the Cold, and other many wonderful volunteering activities that I certainly wanted to share with other youth in the ever-growing information age. Philanthropy wasn’t limited to those with experienced authority or vast amounts of money- youth were more than capable of being the leader of today, I soon learned through blogging for Youth Are Awesome.
Finally, you’ll know every single blogger from their profile pictures and style of their articles that you’ll be friends with each one before you know it. I’ll always be able to identify Sarena with her wonderful poems, Carrie and her great gamer insides posts or Ali and his excellent technology review posts. Youth are Awesome is a great and safe space to make friends- I’ve learned better photography skills, what to do on exams, what not to do in university, and an infinite amount of interesting knowledge over a course of three years by sharing with my fellow bloggers the passion to blog for Youth Are Awesome.
I joined Youth Are Awesome because I’ve always enjoyed writing and telling stories- that is really what any piece of writing is to me- and with my name proudly stuck to art performance reviews and volunteering opportunities, the added monument of approval from the admirable figures of Calgary, I’ve been able to communicate what the world look like from a youth perspective and to add in that young, innovative voice to daunting and real world.
I hope to see all of you join us again in a bit for the 3,000th blog milestone!
