BC Student Voice

October 2009
at my school, Global Perspectives, that is outside the timetable and is considered a club. You can take it in grades 11 and 12. In grade 11 you learn about your community and Canadian humanitarians. You also visit our place, which is a homeless shelter and serve food. It is eye opening. In grade 12 you are focused on the project, which is going to a developing country and helping there (the rule in the class is not going to a place and forcing help if it is unasked for). The past project was in Peru and the students built a kindergarten school and installed wood stoves. This class gives you an in depth view of what is going on in our world. By immersing yourself in a new culture you grow as a person and learn things you would never know. It is a bonus that you are able to help someone in the process. Arelis Tavarez Grade 11, Stellys Secondary, Saanich to a group called District Student Advisory Council (DSAC), a community-based organization where students from all over Maple Ridge meet and discuss issues and how to solve them. We have two meetings every month (with the high school and with the elementary and high schools). Every year we put on an annual project for the students of Maple Ridge. In previous years we have focused on micro-lending and respect. This year we are planning around Me to We, an organization that helps Third World countries get health care, schools, clean water, food (livestock) and other resources. DSAC makes a difference. I am proud to have been a part of DSAC for six years and will continue to be a member until I graduate. Darian Newstead Grade 11, Westview Secondary, Maple Ridge

There is one class

I belong

I play rugby,

cricket and badminton. I have never enjoyed the philosophy of playing a sport to win. Yes, winning can be exhilarating but I feel I can perform better under circumstances where all that matters, win or lose, is having fun. For this reason a club I dream of would be a club which plays a variety of sports: basketball, volleyball etc but it is only about having fun. Anyone could drop in, and the sports we would play would be determined after every weeks game. No sport could be played twice in a row. This way everyone could come out, have some fun and play the sport the way they want to. Nat Hayes Grade 12, Stellys Secondary, Saanich

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OurChallenges
he biggest problem facing our high schools today is the growing inuence of the media and highly stereotypical pop culture. So often the ideas that are placed in the minds of the youth are far-fetched. Look like this, say that, smell like this, all these ideas and expectations cloud the mind and prevent youth from seeing the bigger picture. I say forget it do what you want, think, say and do what your heart tells you. Dont let someone tell you what is the right thing for you. Deep inside, you know and you always will know. Its a given instinct, the instinct to survive, to be heard, to be seen. As long as you never dull that instinct, they can never force you to do anything. You will never fade into the crowd. Stand tall and ght the good ght for as long as you are young, they can never take you.
Chantelle Gray, Grade 12, North Peace Secondary, Ft. St. John

iversity amongst young people can be a challenge. Not only does diversity mean difference, its about dealing with it. As a young person many things can inuence your life and dealing with it is diversity. It is not about judging, its learning that people arent all made to be the same. Childrens brains are like sponges, is a common saying. As we grow we take in as much as possible, so if we dont accept these diverse things throughout school we will not be able to accept them further in our life. If it is so, that childrens brains are sponges lets ll them with thoughts of understanding and acceptance.
Ashton Thomson, Grade 10, Bert Bowes Jr. Secondary, Ft. St. John

believe the biggest problem facing high school students today is pressure to do good academically, from peers to look and act normal or be cool, to meet stereotypes of what it means to be t, active and healthy. Pressure can cause students to break down and feel stressed (it can also push you to be a better person, but I think there is a balance). When the balance is uneven, the effects hit you. You become stressed, tired and depressed. You tell yourself you need to work harder that only reminds you of where you are and what you are.
Paul Young, Grade 10, Howe Sound Secondary, Squamish

he greatest problem facing high school students is peer pressure. Not peer pressure in the way its usually thought of but the pressure to be wanted by others to be popular among certain groups. We are at an impressionable age where we are exploring who we are and where we are going. We spend too much time and effort trying to be what other people want us to be. Many poor decisions have been made by students who have tried to t between the lines of what is considered normal or popular. Whether partying, clothes or relationships, we focus too much on what others have and what we dont. It prevents students from realizing what they are capable of, what they have and how valuable they are. I am not immune, but I try, for I have seen the stress and unhappiness it can bring.
Natascha Hedrich, Grade 12, Chase Secondary, Chase

A problem that faces my high school would be like any other middle class high school. There are pregnancies, homeless people and those with no families. One major challenge is that few people can accept how different everybody is. There are so many people that have an image of what our school and the people in it should look like. They dont understand that everybody grows up differently and no two people are exactly the same.
Alysha Watson Grade 10, D.P. Todd Secondary, Prince George

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OurChallenges
igh school students go through a lot. We have to t in, be accepted, get good grades, graduating and so on. The main problem I believe that high school students go through would be bullying and peer pressure. Everyone wants to be accepted and know that when they go to school they will be safe and accepted for who they are. There is a lot of bullying that happens in high school. And it always affects someone. What clothes you wear, who you hang out with whether you are gay or not. It is unfair and I believe that everyone has been bullied sometime in their life or peer pressured to do something they dont want to do. It happens to everyone and it can easily be prevented if someone takes action and does not stand by but stands up.
Darian Newstead, Grade 11, Westview Secondary, Maple Ridge

igh school students he most difcult issue rowing up in a small face many barriers, that youth face in high town with a small and I believe the biggest school is silence. Silence high school, my older sibone is the pressure or can turn a teens life into lings found the transition tting in. Seeing school a pit of solitude, where no quite difcult. They felt as a nightmare not beone will even notice them. that the transition would cause you dont want to We see this with hohave gone better if they be educated but because mophobia, not wanting to were properly prepared. you dread that feeling of stand out as a friend of a Going from high school being alone with nothgay person, and be target- to college, university or ing and no one. School the work force is never ed themselves. Students becomes somewhere you easy, but it would be more are silent or even chuckle dont want to be. With all as another person uses comforting if we were ofthe cliques and groups of gay as an insult yet again. fered more support and different students it can be Silence can cut people and guidance before we left. Rebecca Ray, Grade 11, hard to nd a place where when you give up your Sparwood Secondary, you can just be yourself. voice against cruelty you East Kootenays So we need to take achave just as much respontion. Everyday try to help sibility for the injustice as If you are a student someone t in. Ask them the instigators do. Alina Krogstad, Grade11, you have to do well in if they would like to sit Stellys Secondary, Saanich school, get a job and with you or your friends know what you want to for lunch or simply just do after high school. You smile because we all know need to know what classes you have to take, save that on that side of life a smile is a big sing of hope. up for university (and have the latest fashions and Chaylene Pow, Grade 11, a social life). People expect you to be able to do Westview Secondary, and have all of these things. When you yourself do Maple Ridge not know what you want. When you are trying to live up to everyone elses expectations you are not able to enjoy your own life because you are living it for someone else.
Arelis Tavarez Grade 11, Stellys Secondary, Saanich

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of the senior girls basketball team was one of the greatest experiences of my life. We worked hard and saw the fruits of our labours. We became zone champions and earned our spot in the provincial tournament. This was the rst time in 15 years that the girls of Sparwood Secondary got this opportunity. I felt empowered. Throughout the season these girls and I became more than just teammates, we were sisters, even in each others eyes. We all had the positive attitude and self-esteem to take on anything that came our way. This unity is something I wish schools as a whole could have. To do this in my school I became a member of the challenge day committee. Challenge days were tough, emotional times. I accomplished my goal by unifying the school in ways I never thought possible. The day was full of laughs and tears (and lunch time karaoke). Students were open and together we put down the foundation for a school that students enjoy. Throughout my high school life I have found that this feeling of self-accomplishment is available in almost all the clubs, teams and organizations at my school and I feel that every student needs to feel as I did after becoming a zone champion or making it through challenge day. Rebecca Ray, Grade 11, Sparwood Secondary, E. Kootenays

Being a member

The organization

that made my shyness disappear was Broadway or Bust, a musical theatre camp that was started by three young aspiring musicians, directors and my personal mentors. Each day at this summer camp I was forced to step out of my shy shell and become a different person. Whether it was singing in front of a crowd, doing a little dance number or my personal favorite becoming a new person in a play or monologue. I loved each day and every moment, even the ones that were scary. I look back and am grateful that I got the chance to try something new. Addy Menican, Grade 12, Howe Sound Secondary, Squamish

Being in a school

so small, you dont have much of an opportunity to be in a club or organization because there are none. If you only have 130 students and a handful of them are interested, it doesnt go very far because peer pressure will usually make you step down. When one person backs out it keeps happening and then you ask why? Half the time the response is I dont know. In small schools there isnt enough leadership or determination to make something run because there arent enough students who want something new. Eric Terryberry, Grade 11, George M. Dawson Secondary, Masset

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: [email protected]

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