Success story of the month
My Story - an interview with youth Agar Tenzin
This interview was completed on July 17th, 2012 via email.
We thank Agar for taking the time to do this interview and sharing his success story to give back to the youth community by encouraging other newcomer youth.
(excerpt from the interview below - to read the full interview, click here)
What is your involvement with the Parkdale Newcomer Youth Program?
Throughout my late high school years I started volunteering with the Newcomer Youth Program, and I loved being a part of it because it had lots of informative workshops and interesting things to learn every week. In the summer of 2010, I worked for Parkdale Intercultural Association under the Summer Students Jobs program as an office assistant for Newcomer Youth Summer Program under Kalsang’s supervision. It was a great learning experience as I was doing things that I wasn’t accustomed to, and it helped me in developing many employable skills such as team leading, communication, organizing and presentation.
What are some of the challenges you faced as a newcomer and how did you overcome them?
When I first came to Toronto in my early teens, I was basically a fish out of the water, as I wasn’t accustomed to the different culture and system here. It took a long time for me to grasp the different lifestyle and it wasn’t easy. One of the main issues was the language barrier as at the time my English wasn’t as good. But I kept practising and making new friends which helped speed up my learning of the language. I have always been a friendly person so making friends wasn’t that much of a big deal for me.
Is there anyone in your life who has inspired you or motivated you to be your best?
My parents are my main inspiration as they have worked hard their entire life and have provided for their children. If I am going through tough times, they are always there to support me, and that motivates me to work harder in life and make them proud.
We thank Agar for taking the time to do this interview and sharing his success story to give back to the youth community by encouraging other newcomer youth.
(excerpt from the interview below - to read the full interview, click here)
What is your involvement with the Parkdale Newcomer Youth Program?
Throughout my late high school years I started volunteering with the Newcomer Youth Program, and I loved being a part of it because it had lots of informative workshops and interesting things to learn every week. In the summer of 2010, I worked for Parkdale Intercultural Association under the Summer Students Jobs program as an office assistant for Newcomer Youth Summer Program under Kalsang’s supervision. It was a great learning experience as I was doing things that I wasn’t accustomed to, and it helped me in developing many employable skills such as team leading, communication, organizing and presentation.
What are some of the challenges you faced as a newcomer and how did you overcome them?
When I first came to Toronto in my early teens, I was basically a fish out of the water, as I wasn’t accustomed to the different culture and system here. It took a long time for me to grasp the different lifestyle and it wasn’t easy. One of the main issues was the language barrier as at the time my English wasn’t as good. But I kept practising and making new friends which helped speed up my learning of the language. I have always been a friendly person so making friends wasn’t that much of a big deal for me.
Is there anyone in your life who has inspired you or motivated you to be your best?
My parents are my main inspiration as they have worked hard their entire life and have provided for their children. If I am going through tough times, they are always there to support me, and that motivates me to work harder in life and make them proud.
Youth Project Photo Albums Online!
Check out the new updated Albums of our Youth - Led Projects:
STOM 2011
STOM-R 2012
GA4H 2012
Facebook Group: Parkdale Newcomer Youth
Twitter: Follow us!
STOM 2011
STOM-R 2012
GA4H 2012
Facebook Group: Parkdale Newcomer Youth
Twitter: Follow us!
Youth Creative Spot
Picture Album of Parkdale Newcomer Youth Summer Program 2012
Music Video of Newcomer Youth Summer Program - 2011
A music video depicting some of the activities of the Newcomer Youth Summer
Program of 2011 in Parkdale. The activities include bollywood dance, martial
arts training, outdoor sports and many more. The song used is "Sooraj Ki Baaho
Mein" taken from the bollywood movie "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara".
For more videos of our program activities, visit www.youtube.com/ympparkdale
Program of 2011 in Parkdale. The activities include bollywood dance, martial
arts training, outdoor sports and many more. The song used is "Sooraj Ki Baaho
Mein" taken from the bollywood movie "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara".
For more videos of our program activities, visit www.youtube.com/ympparkdale
Literature
STOM-R Magazine!
Read Youth Movie reviews from STOM youth team by clicking here
Introduction
“The essence of compassion is to copy how you relate with your child (in your relationships with others). The problem is how much you want to be the head of the family or the ringleader of your friends. You know, if that ambition is not there, but you have a genuine willingness to share, that is precisely the concept of compassion. You are willing to be friends with everybody, but at the same time you are not particularly taking credit. You don’t make people depend on you. Everybody can stand on his or her own feet. The ideal of helping is to make others independent of you. You help them to become more independent rather than making them addicted to you.”
- Chogyam Trungpa
The journey of STOM-R began in April 2010 with the formation of Parkdale Newcomer Youth Committee (PNYC), a youth community leadership group co-ordinated by the Newcomer Youth Program of Parkdale Community Information Centre and Parkdale Intercultural Association. PNYC started working with advocacy projects around tobacco in 2010. Our first project titled, "Parkdale Youth for Tobacco Free Sports and Recreation" ran for 6 months from July to Dec 2010. Over 150 youth got involved as team members and volunteers of the various activities organized under the project. The project then grew into STOM (Shake Tobacco off Movies) which began in January 2011 and concluded in June 2011. STOM involved over 100 youth including new team members, volunteers and participants, all working towards a common goal of eliminating smoking from youth/children rated movies. This was done through several educational workshops, signing petitions and shooting a short ad and a documentary that aired in June 2011 to an audience of over 80 youth and community members. Titled, STOM-R "Shake Tobacco off Movies - Reviews", our most recent project concluded in June 2012 and brought a fresh focus on advocating for Smoke-Free Movies through social media. STOM-R youth team members, aged 14 to 20 created contests that ran bi-weekly to select two youths who won free movie tickets and submitted movie reviews.
The team members watched movies on a monthly basis and wrote reviews to share their honest views on how smoking and brands affect the viewers, especially the young. The reviews serve as the direct evaluation of the negative impacts of smoking in movies. Team members' reviews were entered in a contest for 6 months and marked by our five volunteer judges. This book is a compilation of the writings by the team members and volunteer youth who won contests designed by STOM-R members! The project also organized events around smoke free movies to coincide with and support provincial and national campaign such as Action Week, World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) and others.
STOM-R youth team members and youth volunteers contributed to the success of this project and helped educate youth and community members about the negative influence of smoking in children rated movies. The project’s success leaves a legacy by youth for youth that helps positively engage more youth in participating in our upcoming advocacy projects.
Our youth program’s achievement in giving the youth opportunities to have real life experience and skills that will take them further in their journey of personal growth and development would not have been possible without the help of these organizations:
Citizenship and Immigration Canada United Way Toronto
City of Toronto & Masaryk Cowan CRC Toronto Public Library – Parkdale Branch Toronto Public Health YATI
Cancer Society – Smoker’s Helpline CAAWS and many more....
Special thanks to our patient and kind judges for their time and support; Antoine Tedesco, Grace Liu, Adelaide Ortega, Abdullah Shah and Norbu Tsering. Last but not the least; I would like to applaud the dedication of our great youth team members and volunteers of STOM-R projects and the host of over 60 youth who participated in our workshops and regular contests over the 9 month project duration (September 2011 to June 2012)
Enjoy reading the reviews and share with your network to create an ocean of positive impact in the lives of our children, youth and families.
Kalsang Dolma – editor and STOM-R Project Manager
Youth Settlement Worker - ISAP
To learn more about our projects and youth program, connect with us here,
Program Newsletter: youthspark.weebly.com
STOM Project Website: sites.google.com/site/stomreviews
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/PNY2010
Twitter: @yMediaPP
Youtube: youtube.com/ympparkdale
June in Review by Kalsang
HIGHLIGHTS of the
Month
Youth Community Leadership Recognition
Since 2011, our youth program recognizes youth leadership group members at the annual general meeting with a Youth Community Leadership Certificate for their contributions as active participants and support for the program’s members and activities. 18 youth were honored this year on June 13th at the AGM.
Girls Active for Health project (GA4H)
In June, the project hosted two major physical activity sessions, each attended by over 15 girls (12 to 18 years old) on average. Girls learn about various physical activities related health benefits through interactive sessions using creative worksheets co-prepared by the two girl team leaders. The group learnt interesting facts about badminton, basket ball, swimming, and running. They also shared various stretching tips each session by cumulatively learning more stretching tips at the end of each session. Some of the sports they played in groups READ the full JUNE program review here.
Youth Community Leadership Recognition
Since 2011, our youth program recognizes youth leadership group members at the annual general meeting with a Youth Community Leadership Certificate for their contributions as active participants and support for the program’s members and activities. 18 youth were honored this year on June 13th at the AGM.
Girls Active for Health project (GA4H)
In June, the project hosted two major physical activity sessions, each attended by over 15 girls (12 to 18 years old) on average. Girls learn about various physical activities related health benefits through interactive sessions using creative worksheets co-prepared by the two girl team leaders. The group learnt interesting facts about badminton, basket ball, swimming, and running. They also shared various stretching tips each session by cumulatively learning more stretching tips at the end of each session. Some of the sports they played in groups READ the full JUNE program review here.
Opportunity
Youth Review Panel OpportunityYouth Review Panel Opportunity! - Honorarium, Snacks, TTC
Toronto Public Health Youth Grants is currently recruiting youth to be a part of the review panel. One requirement of the TPH Youth Grants is that applicants are asked to do a presentation to a panel of youth, who will work on determining how the funding gets distributed - this could be you! Read full details here. Learn to Row - for Girls!Hanlan Rowing Club and the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport (CAAWS) are offering the opportunity for up to 12 girls to learn to row this July!
WHO: Girls 14 years and older who can swim. WHEN: Saturday July 21, 1:00pm – 4:00pm and Sunday July 22, 1:00pm – 4:00pm. WHERE: Hanlan Boat Club, 6 Regatta Road, Toronto. TO REGISTER: Contact Anne Warner at [email protected] or 416-480-3000 x 2453. A parent/guardian will also need to fill out a waiver form. FREE Photography Lessons!SSE-O’s Inaugural Fellowship
SSE-O’s Inaugural Fellowship Program
We are looking for 20 energetic, driven, and passionate individuals who have a great idea for a social venture. All applicants must be at least 18 years of age before the start of the program. SSE-O is an untraditional school and its admissions process is equally untraditional. We care primarily about the personal characteristics you bring to your venture and to the classroom. If you have won a lot.... (read the full details here) Newcomer Youth Summer Program in Parkdale!Registration period: June 22nd to 29th
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CHECK OUTSpotlight on Summer Talent: Hot Talent Exposing Hot Issues - Girls Summer Talent Show to raise awareness about voilence against women
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© Copyright 2010 - 2012: Newcomer Youth Program of PIA/PCIC partnership. All rights reserved.
Managing Editor: Kalsang Dolma (Youth Settlement Worker - ISAP)
2012 Youth Editorial Board:
2012 Youth Editorial Board:
- Tsewang Dhargyal
- Dudoul Tenzin
- Rigden Lhawang
- Tenzin Rabyang
- Tenzin Choeyang
- Tenzin Namsel
- Bipin Aasi
- Namdol Lama