Early Dayz
Growing up, I was small. Real small. As with many labels we inheritantly place on people This apparently meant I was overlooked as a viable contender or in many times even a contributor. This frustrated me beyond belief. Teachers overlooked me because my voice was as big as I was and often forgotten in a dynamic classroom, I wasn’t selected for sports teams because despite my quickness, I wasn’t considered a competitive threat. I was frustrated of being told I was too small, too shy, too nice. The lesson I learnt from that was the world valued big, outgoing and edgy? Was this really true?! Could I ever get to be those things? I knew I had to do something to make myself stand out, to be different, to make an impression. After what seemed like an endless period of hair dye,wardrobe tailoring and revolving CD collection, the realization that I didn’t need to be different, I just needed to be me.
In this process I figured out who I was by identifying what I liked, and didn’t like. I really liked to talk or at least that’s what all my teachers wrote on my collective report cards through school. So I decided I wanted to participate in the public speaking contest when I was in grade 4. I was the only junior student to participate and I won first place. I went onto win both City and Reginal competitions that year and subsequent years on after as well. With this new found talent for public speaking, I decided to run for student council where my campaign slogan was “Les is More”. Supes punny. I became the youngest member of the student council and then longest member thereon continuing every year after. High school I was told I was too little to try out for basketball and in fact when showed up for tryouts my gym teacher giggled and said I was “cute” to which she then scratched my name off the list. I continued to come out the following two years for tryouts until finally in grade 11 she took me on the team because I “showed perseverance and character”. I worked hard and we went to city championship as me as starting point guard that year.
All my experiences in school, revolved around me wanting to prove people wrong. I wasn’t small, I was capable. I wasn’t shy, I was misunderstood. I wasn’t too nice, I understood how to treat people.
I knew I wanted to teach for as long as I remember. I went to Lakehead Univeristy because it was the farthest school without having to go out of province. I knew leaving home would be good for me and I flourished at the challenge of surviving independently. After graduating with honors in the concurrent program. I was faced with the inevitable task of moving home and becoming an adult. I didn’t want that just yet so I sought out other opportunities. I applied to teach at a high school in BucheonBuk in South Korea. The school of 3000 Korean students had two English speakers; me and my Korean teaching partner. It was extremely difficult to navigate a whole other world that is completely foreign in every way. But by the end of the year my students could actually communicate with me in the hallway; albeit very labored and charade-esque.
When my contract was up with the Gyonnggi Do school board I was once again faced with the inevitable “time to be a grown up” step. I balked. Instead I packed my bags and “eenie meenie miney moed” my way to the next flight to...Jamaica. I showed up in Jamaica with a hockey bag of clothes and nothing else, knowing no one and having nowhere to go. So like any twenty something Canadian, I went to the beach bar. I sat and chilled for a couple of hours until It dawned on me that it was getting close to night time and I needed to figure out my plans. Resorts are expensive and I didn’t have a lot of money so I slept on the beach. Zipped in my hockey bag as a result of humongous killer crabs that roam the beach at night. Google it.
Eventually my cruise ran its course and I headed home to finally become an adult. I applied to several school boards across the province and was accepted to all of them. This meant every day accepting daily jobs from as Far East as Markham and as far North as Wabashing. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to settle so this helped me pick a location and experience a variety of diversity in the classroom. Inevitably I settled right where I started. Big bad Barrie. I grew up here and as much as I needed to go elsewhere, travel abroad and see new places, I ended up where I started. But at this point I was ready to be back. I accepted Long term occasional jobs teaching intermediate at Holly Meadows Elementary school. I taught there for five years before moving to Angus Morrison. I taught intermediate there for another six years and have since left to take a new role at Forest Hill. Intermediate has always been my preference, as I love the dynamic age group. There is so much more going on with these kids than just the ins and outs of the science currriculum. It’s a true challenge to connect to and engage this age and help support them as they try to figure out this crazy world. Hence my commitment to leadership.
What is it? Does it come back to the biggest, the most outgoing, the most edgy? Nope and that’s the point I want all kids to realize. Leadership is just doing. Wanting something and getting it, not liking something so changing it. Being the change, doing what is right, becoming a solution to a problem. My whole life I have succeeded by identifying what it was I liked or what I wanted to do and getting it done. My hope is that kids realize leadership can mean different things and can look a million different ways. It’s not the loudest kid or the most athletic or the most of anything. It quite simply can be any kid doing something. So what do you like to do? Go do it. Own it. Feel good about it.
My passion with leadership led me to develop a program with the school board called Exploring Leadership. It’s a very special program that’s has grown exponentially over the years. It started as a handful of schools in our region selecting a handful of students in their school to attend OELC facility in Orillia. Here we had designed a series of activities that cultivated leadership sspecific skills. We had identified skills of communication, problem solving, decision making, conflict resolution as important assets to potential leaders. We attempt to have leaders identify their leadership style and through a variety of team building activities and challenges; apply the leadership model towards success. I have been involved with the program for over ten years and have seen the program grow to now every school in our board. During my summers I also work for OELC with their leadership courses and have witnessed some of the most magical experiences at this camp over the years.
Babies accomplish so much in a short period of time and then we all just coast for a while. When was the last time you really learned something new, or did something that changed you. Why do we waste our moments or at the very least take them for granted. If I can share one thought of leadership and doing what you want to do it’s that there is no better time then the present to get out there and do it!
Go be a leader!