BAM leadership conference 2010

I have missed 5.5 consecutive days of school… that is not cool… I have soo much to catch up on and so much to do.. I am screwed… and yet I am not working on them now… I feel that I should really take this time to reflect and try and understand the past few days.

So, what happened the past few days were one of the most amazing and event-filled days of my life. I went on a three day, two night torch leadership training conference at Mt. Alverno in Caledon, with BAM at BA. This is the second time that I went. Last year I went as a delegate to participate in the training to become a BAM leader, this year, I was fortunate enough to be chosen to become a leader in this conference. I was thrilled to go on the trip and even more excited as I was on it. Being a leader and going through the whole torch process again allowed me to understand and change once again. Being a leader and not a delegate brought forth many new opportunities and changes within me.

It is amazing to see and feel the change that I have gone through since even last year. I remember when I first got to Caledon last year I was worried, and quiet and like shy and all. But this year, becoming a leader you could say gave me a sense of confidence and allowed me to do things I wouldn't have thought I was ever able to do. When I was talking with my group, I told them that I was once a shy and quiet kid… even more quieter than the quietest person here. They all stared at me like I was crazy and one delegate even laughed and said "I don't believe that". I am glad for this change, I feel that throughout the past few days with my group, I was more open and did things that I wanted to do. I was being myself. Each leader had to do an introduction to each of the sections that we had, and my introduction was to the session of Acting. Usually when I speak infront of a big group of people, or sometimes even one person, my face turns completely red, I get really sweaty, nervous and I just stutter and screw up. But this time, I was not nervous at all. I was even a bit excited. As Brother Bill introduced me everyone gave me encouragement and stuff and it was all good. So I read my intro that I wrote…

    "Within all the experiences, activities and conversations we have engaged in throughout the past few days; we have nurtured, developed and gained much worthy insight, skills and new experiences. We have uncovered our hidden talents, strengthened our weaknesses and learned the essentials to becoming a leader. By taking part in this next section, we become the epitome of connections within our school. By taking initiative, communicating and co-operating with our fellow leaders we can go about taking action and reaching our goals. It is not enough to just think about what we want to achieve and to talk about it. We must be firm and conscientious, we must be the leaders we are and act NOW. The acting session forces us to combine our skills and enhance our weaknesses. We are to develop solid plans towards future success. Never hesitate from taking action. Taking a wrong step is better than not taking a step altogether. Let us act in our small groups and make the biggest difference."

So yeah, as usual, I wrote a long intro, but really, I had fun thinking of it and I found that it flowed together and I really liked the message I tried to portray. We had a justice meal where everyone was given slips of paper stating that they were blind or handicapped in some way. And one of my group members said that it is definitely not easy to be blind or not have any hands, but it is also not easy to be healthy. And that really hit me, I was like, WOW that is some great insight there. And its really true, now that I think of it. It really isn't easy being healthy. – its not easy being anything, everyone and being anything is hard, everything has its challenges and obstacles.

In the beginning, when I first met the new nominees, I was surprised and questioned their potential to become a leader. I did not know any one of them personally though I recognized some from the halls and groups. But after these past few days I have spent with them, I can truly say that each and every one of them are worthy to become leaders and they ARE leaders. Really, it may be surprising at first, but I guess I have to learn to recognize good things in others and not judge them immediately. I have also learnt to further appreciate and admire some of the leaders that went on the trip with me (they are all leaders). I found out so many things from them and I hope to one day be more like each and every one of them.

There are so many more things that happened throughout such a short three days, but due to my two tests that I have to study for for tomorrow, I am gonna stop here and finish off with one of many quotes that I have learnt throughout this trip.

    I think one of my favourite quotes was:

Life is not measured by how many breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

For once now, I think I am just going to go and pray. =D