BC Student Voice

October 2010
the end of my final year of secondary school, I begin to reflect and think about just what everything means to me as soon it will all change. I think about all the mistakes, stupid Ryburn Regular decisions and overall dumb things I have done. I also think about the times when I Grade 12 surprised myself and did what I thought was just a fantasy or dream and the times Elford Secondary where I am proud to say that I did what I believed was right. All of these memories and experiences I have gathered over these defining years, along with all of the amazing people that have time and time again proved to me how much they care are truly responsible for shaping me into the person writing this today. I can look back and say that even though I have made more than my fair share of mistakes, I regret none of it. I have learned something from them all. In three months everything that I have known for my short seventeen years will change. It all comes to a close as myself and my peers start a new chapter in our lives. Although I know that my learning is far from finished, I am confident that I now have what it takes to get a good start on this exciting and promising new adventure.

As I near

From

an early age I supported recycling and planted trees. When I entered high school a few years ago I joined the schools clean and green team. It was a new program with only a handful of students involved. However, we were all passionate about helping the earth. We started small, doing schoolyard clean-ups and promoting school recycling systems. Some endeavours were successful, others were not, but we continued. Last year a few students including myself entered into a competition. We won in our district and received $500 for our club. The award helped us expand our projects like community clean-ups, murals, planting trees and talking to the town council on environmental concerns that we share. We also managed to get advanced recycling for our school. We attended a community meeting recently on a proposed eco-depot. I plan to continue being involved in the environment as I believe it will become a more pressing issue in the future. We only have one planet! Nadja Hedrich, Grade 10 Chase Secondary

There

are always different values among the students. Its obvious that most of us attending Student Voice want to learn and care about what we are learning. We are here to have a say in the way our education is run and the future of the system. Education is the key to success and the future is in our hands. I know that I have the power to do well. I feel fortunate to have access to a great education and I will soak up everything there is to learn and Ill be set for life. Lisa Odland, Grade 10, Seycove Secondary

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subject that you always talk about in your grade 12 year is the future. What are you going to do after high school? What university are you going to go to? What are you going to be when you grow up? These are the most stressful things to think about yet the most important. Do I take on a career that will help the world but doesnt support my ideal lifestyle? Or do I work on Wall Street even though I dont enjoy math. Who doesnt enjoy money? These are all pressures that come with graduating, i.e. figuring out your life. Though I figure you do what you enjoy and what you value. Maybe you will not be making enough money, but as long as what ever you do you do your best. Then it will work out because one thing I have learned is by trying your best you will never get overlooked.

A big

Arelis Tavarez Grade 12 Stellys Secondary

As

leaders of our student communities we are promoting learning for every student in our province. We will go home to tell teachers, principals and vice-principals what we want to learn and how we want to learn, all for the purpose of creating an environment that is welcoming and inspiring for every one of our students. We want our communities to inspire our students to become pupils of life, to never stop learning. This is only a tool we use to accomplish this goal. Student Voice gives us the opportunity to spend two weekends per year brainstorming and sharing ideas. Here is where we share the ideas of our community to create a student world for the future. Frances Brown, Grade 12 Seycove Secondary

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During

our break at the Student Voice meeting I wandered around and took a seat with two girls that I had met just a few minutes ago. We started to chat from what we liked about our school to the earthquake in Haiti to homelessness in Vancouver. We debated about global perspectives, how everything is about choices and the view we take on things. We talked about the simplicity of happiness and the trend in our society. Soon there were seven people sitting at our group throwing ideas and driving discussions. It was unbelievably astonishing to see that so many youth across BC share such similar ideology and views on our society. What is even more impressive is how free and safe we felt. Some ideas are very sensitive yet when they were brought up people respected them. Alice Wang, Grade 10 New Westminster Secondary

Concerns fill the courses not enough students to

Student Voice has a new topic that relates to current issues. However I think the good of this meeting is not only to seek solutions but to raise youth awareness on community involvements and services. Student Voice provides youth with a platform to see the society more holistically. Issues discussed at this meeting are relevant to our daily lives. By listening to different view points on the issues I became more familiar with the world around me. Some of the issues cant be solved by current politicians. As youth, it is our duty to carry on their responsibilities. Student Voice is a place where voices from youth are Student Voice turned into action and these actions will shape our future world. provides a sense of empowerment for Ryan Wei, Grade 10 students. For myself I New Westminster Secondary was grateful that the Minister of Education took the time to attend and provide honest, entrusted to return to my individual to-the point answers. school district and host our own Allowing students district meeting. At first it seemed a daunting task. But to ask someone in with the help from the three other representatives and our a position of power advisor we were able to successfully hold our very own allows them to believe meeting. During the meeting, students from far and wide that change according avidly shared their opinions on the topic Communicating to their opinions is with Technology. When we organized the data that was possible. As well there collected I felt a sense of pride and success. It was an is a feeling of movement extremely rewarding experience, planning and hosting the from adolescence to meeting for the students. When I returned to the Student adulthood. Voice meeting in the spring, a sense of power and pride once more surged through me and it was exhilarating. Nic Ames Grade 11 Tony Zhao, Grade 10 Queen Charlotte New Westminster Secondary Secondary

Each year

I was

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The opportunity

to interact and share ideas with one another is one of the great things about Student Voice. We are exposed to many different regions throughout BC and learn about their school situations and as well we share our own school experiences with others. The collaborative opportunity is compelling and it is always positive to work with each other towards a common goal. This time I appreciated the information that was given regarding scholarships. It is useful and gives regions that are less aware the same knowledge that other regions already have. We are lucky that we have a career counsellor who provides us with such information. Ive have also met some interesting people who have made me think. Their perspective and presence has influenced me and has enriched my life. I would definitely recommend Student Voice to any and all students.

Yushen Shu, Grade 12 Seaquam Secondary at the Student Voice meeting with the expectation that I would discuss communication technology with peers and principals, but what I got was much more. By talking about our cultures past and present, and speculating as to our future, it got me thinking about the future in general and then my future. As we zeroed in on technologys timeline and future it got me thinking about how I use technology and how much our world is changing and is continuing to change right before our eyes. This got me thinking about how some jobs are being replaced by machines while other jobs are being created that we never would have dreamed of not too jobs are being created long ago. To add to all of this we had a speaker talk about scholarships and post secondary planning. This meeting has provided a great environment for me to start thinking that we would about how the world is changing and how I want to adapt to succeed.

I arrived

never have dreamed of

Alex Toews, Grade 11 Howe Sound Secondary

BC Student Voice is published on occasion to celebrate the success of BC Student Voice through the assistance of the BC Principals & Vice-Principals Association
For information write: BC Student Voice, #200-525 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver V5Z 1K9 or call 604-689-3399 or email: sharon@bcpvpa.bc.ca

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