Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Every parent earns bragging rights. Raising a child(ren) takes a lot of time, energy and a whole lot of patience, forgiveness, humour and more. It is a demanding job! And so here is my story.
For years our TLDSB Board of Education sent students to Toronto to participate in a model United Nations Day. Students represent countries and meet to talk about world issues. This year TLDSB decided to run it’s own model UN and students from every high school in the board will get to participate. Haliburton Highlands Secondary School is hosting this event and many students and teachers have been work hard to prepare. It is happening this Thursday, May 16.
I don’t know a lot about what is going on but I do know that my daughter is part of the team and one of her jobs was to prepare an opening presentation to highlight the issue of Climate Change which the delegates will discuss with their perspective from their country. My daughter showed me her presentation the other night and it really grabbed my attention. It was very engaging with a sense of urgency. I don’t take much of the credit for what she has created. First, her ability to make movies and do these complex audio visual presentations comes from her friends, who at a young age, made movies for many years. She learned how to use the technology while having fun and she is very skilled at it. Her years of being involved with the Highlands Summer Festival gave her skills in how to use music to set a tone and how to be creative in making a dramatic message. She also learned the importance of small details in big projects. Her years as a dance and music student gave her confidence, and an eye for beauty and the ability to think outside of the box. The teachers she had at SBES, JDH and HHSS inspired her, supported her and encouraged her in many different ways. One of great skills she has is the ability to collaborate on these big projects. It truly takes a community to raise a child from the time they are born until they launch into the community and beyond. Every kid needs role models, mentors, teachers, friends, family and the community in order to flourish. And for all of these people who have somehow been involved with her I am so grateful. We hear so much bad news every day about things happening around the world, and at the same time there is so much good work going on. These young people are the future and they have lots of energy and passion to work for change. I really appreciate all of the teachers who give them these projects and trust them to do a goo job. I wish them all the best on Thursday. I couldn’t be prouder.
On another note, there is another good news story for our community this week. Amanda Rico has opened a new yoga studio underneath V&S. Amanda is married to Diego Rico, and is the daughter in law of Cristina and Alfredo Rico. Amanda has been teaching yoga in the county for a couple of years and has lots of expertise and energy. It is just so great to see new businesses opening. Our community gets stronger with each new venture. You can check out Amanda’s website atwww.amandaricoyoga.com.