School Tour

So you may have been missing me lately. I know I have missed posting! Well I was on a school tour for work throughout Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto and area. In total we visited 20 schools and made 22 presentations in two weeks. It was an intense 10 workdays! I was working from 5am to midnight some nights as I tried to keep up with everything. However, even with all this whining, it was an incredible experience. The tour was a presentation entitled “Girls Rights are Human Rights too” and just like it sounds it was about girls rights. The interactive, multimedia presentation included live performances by Masia One and Eternia, two female MC’s, and George, Toronto’s own music sensation. It was a mind blowing educational experience. It also included interviews that were done with three of the female MTV VJ’s (Nicole, AJ, and Diane). Plan Canada, my employer, took them to Haiti, Sudan, and Colombia to raise awareness about different issues affecting girls and what is being done.

The combination of artists and television personalities managed to keep the interest of the students for nearly an hour and a half, and many lingered around well afterwards to speak with the performers about the issues raised. It really showed the disconnect between regular educational presentations and one designed with young people in mind. There is no doubt that young people are bubbling with enthusiasm and passion for making a difference in the world. I think the issue is that not enough is done to stoke their fires. What I witnessed from young people during this presentation was deep feelings about these issues and that they were really just waiting for a reason to let it show. I can’t wait to see what will come of this new and renewed enthusiasm.