The beginning...
Rewind your mind back to February. Midterms, 2 feet of snow, the Superbowl, and of course the ever so daunting, ‘where the hell am I going to work this summer?’ thoughts. Since graduating high school I have only spent 1 excruciatingly long summer working at home in Niagara. It was a tedious tourist-filled gig and I dreaded it every morning. I told myself that I would never settle for such an unfulfilling job again. With the thought of having to find a job for the summer heavily on my mind, I was pleasantly surprised when I received an e-mail from one of my professors.
Almost out of a touch of serendipity, my professor sent out an e-mail introducing me to the world of Students for Social Impact and the British Council. He was notifying my class about an abroad summer 2015 oppourtunity. I looked into in right away, since abroad experiences always fulfill my desire to learn about the world. At the time of writing out the application, I didn’t know how much I would relate to the values of a social enterprise. To my surprise, a week or two after handing in my application I was notified that I had been shortlisted for an interview. This is when I really began to look into what a social enterprise truly was. I found that they are passionate people looking to make positive differences in their community through countless ways; from saving bees & trees to providing affordable housing. As a sociology student who constantly learns about the woes of the world and never given any insight to a solution, I was beyond excited for a chance to take on a real world experiences of actually making a positive impact, rather than idling by.
I prepared as much as I could for my interview with Scott, the Chief Executive of Social adVentures, a Salford, UK based social enterprise who’s main goal is to provide accessible resources to people in their community to promote happier and healthier lives. How incredible would it be to be able to help this social enterprise better themselves, their community, and myself in return?
A few weeks later when doing my routine over-breakfast social media check, I found the e-mail saying I had earned a spot at Social adVentures. From that point forward, the total excitement and overwhelming anxiety began: collect 10 different documents, book your flight, find your own accommodation, figure out a research question… It felt as though the stress of it all would never end. My anxiety of the unknown and the stress of it all was blocking my mind to becoming excited about my upcoming summer adventure.
Boy have those feelings of stress and anxiety gone away. Two days ago I had the incredible pleasure of meeting the 17 other Canadian and British students who will be going along this journey with me. We all began our adventure completely solo, filling out an application, slowly became internet friends on our Facebook group, and have turned into a family within the last 2 days. From ice breaking games and learning about proper business models, to sharing our hopes & fears and strengths & weaknesses, and countless other valuable lessons in between, I don’t know if the British Council could have put together a more inspiring or brilliant group of people to embark on this new oppourtunity.
As we slowly say goodbye to each other as we each head off to our different placements across Canada & the UK, I have a feeling of sadness. Sadness because I won’t be in the presence of such an incredible group of young people that have made the last 2 days amazing. They have all reminded me that there are still incredible people left in the world and we can have a positive impact. It won’t be a real goodbye though, more of a ‘see you later’ until we meet again at the end of the summer. We’ll be staying in touch to encourage & inspire each other, be shoulders to cry on and pals to have a laugh with. This is just the beginning of our Students for Social Impact summer adventure and I cannot wait to see what it has in store for all of us.
#WorldDomination #YOBCO (the C is silent)
Follow all of our adventures. #SSIMexchange
