Brescia Girls LEAD Leadership Summer Camp ~ Day 13 ~

by Lam Tsz Yan Angel (4P11)

Today was the last day of the programme in Brescia. I enjoyed every moment here and I would like to stay here for a longer time. We went to YMCA for high and low events today! Some of us are valiant and were eager to try it, but I was surprised that some of us were so afraid of height. We encouraged everyone to give it a try and all of us had done well at last.

 

I learnt that there were many levels of leadership that leader can apply different strategies or characteristics for different tasks. There are no right or wrong in leadership styles, but we need to learn from our experiences to become the most effective leaders.

 

We had the Closing Ceremony today. During the ceremony, every group had to present its project, I loved to listen to their ideas. Listening is also an important way to learn more from the other experiences. By listening to the others, we could see from another perspective so that we could step out from our comfort zone and avoid being complacent and conservative.

 

We are going to leave tomorrow, I will miss Brescia and my councelors, and remember every moment that I spent here definitely.

Brescia Girls LEAD Leadership Summer Camp ~ Day 12 ~

by Lam Tsz Yan Angel (4P11)

The theme of today was “setting goals”. We finished our projects by using the SMART Goals model. Today was raining heavily outside, we were asked to stay indoor so that we didn’t go to YMCA for Low Ropes Course. Therefore, we had more time to work on our project. I typed out the training day’s proposal and my mentors were amazed by my work.

 

Afterwards, we made thank-you cards for our mentors, bus drivers and staff who helped us a lot during the summer camp. I really appreciated for their support. Without them, we could not enjoy such a successful and meaningful trip.

 

We learnt different types of bracelets making tonight. When all of us were making the bracelets at the same time, it really turned the room into a bracelet factory. Although our councelors were really exhausted, they still taught us how to make different types of bracelets patiently. I would like to express my gratitude to them!

Brescia Girls LEAD Leadership Summer Camp ~ Day 11 ~

by Lam Tsz Yan Angel (4P11)

The theme of today is “making changes”. We were asked to prepare a project to identify an issue in our world and how we could make a real change! We started planning today and we would present it at the closing ceremony on Friday. We developed a plan to educate the society, and prepared a training day for Form 4 to 5 girls to help them explore the issue.

 

We went to London Food Bank in the afternoon for volunteering. I enjoyed the time there as we needed to pack food in hampers for the people in need to take away. It was a different volunteering experience as we did not meet the people in need in person and would not receive any thanks from them. It was still a meaningful activity.

 

I thought this experience was also similar to one of the leadership styles. As a leader, we could always support our subordinates in different ways, either directly or indirectly. As an indirect leadership, we don’t need to tell people what to do or force them to do anything. Thus, a quiet person can be a successful leader if he or she knows how to motivate people.

Brescia Girls LEAD Leadership Summer Camp ~ Day 10 ~

by Lam Tsz Yan Angel (4P11)

It was a tiring day as we went to Western University to swim in the morning. Then, we went back to the lounge for framing the Teamwork and Girls COOK Planning. I did not concentrate so we did not do serious plan for tonight’s cook. It led to our failure tonight.

 

In the afternoon, we did teamwork activities and our team did great. We learnt to use different communication styles, verbal, non-verbal and body language, to facilitate the process. We only had half hour free time before we started our challenge in the food lab. I was assigned to wash vegetables. I just sat down and did not intend to help my teammates after I finished my job. It was not a great choice of action for sure. Our assistant camp coordinator found that some girls touched the utensils in a drawer after they handled raw meat. I was asked to wash the whole drawer and the utensils inside. I had a complex feeling as I felt innocent at first, but I stayed silence and took the responsibility for my team.

 

Finally, it took us three hours to finish all sets of dish, but we failed to finish as we left three bowls of flat rice noodles behind. After dinner, we had the LEAD logs section as usual, everyone talked about their difficulties and weaknesses. It was the time that I truly expressed my feelings to my group. Josie, our counsellor gave us great comments. She mentioned it was not a punishment for me to wash the drawer but it was a trust for my leadership. After I heard that, I cried and felt so heart touching.

Brescia Girls LEAD Leadership Summer Camp ~ Day 9 ~

by Lam Tsz Yan Angel (4P11)

Today is the 9^th day of the trip. We learnt to understand the differences between one another today. We had a guest lecture by Professor Wei Wei DA, she came from Beijing and has taught Family Studies in Brescia since 2005! After the lesson, we understood that there must be diversity among all of us. We should try to bring out the strengths in others and cooperate with others in order to make a great team.

 

In the afternoon, we went to Western University nearby and had an Amazing Race! It was a great idea for us to know more about the Western culture and we could buy books there!

 

We made our own dream catcher with the help from the locals there, they taught us the original version with different materials. When we were making the dream catcher, it was like running into a maze. We dived deep and it was endless. When the string went to the middle of it, we need to brace it backward. Making a dream catcher was like facing a difficult situation, we would get lost, but we could always find the way out eventually. We should always stay positive when we are facing difficulties and in adversity.

Brescia Girls LEAD Leadership Summer Camp ~ Day 7 & 8~

2-day Niagara Falls Trip (6-7/8/2016)

by Lam Tsz Yan Angel (4P11)

6/8/2016

On the first day, we were given more time to pack as we were going out for a trip and would stay in the Niagara College Residence and Conference Centre at night. We departed at 9am and arrived at Clifton Hill at 12pm. We were very excited as we saw many shops and restaurants there. There are different kinds of fast food shop. We chose “Wendy’s” as its meal was tasty and we would like to dine there again.

 

We joined the Hornblower cruise after lunch for two hours. I love the Falls and the boat trip was a refreshing ride. The water from the falls made us soaking wet but we enjoyed it a lot. At 4pm, we went on the Journey Behind the Falls, the view there was totally different from the front, it’s more beautiful. We could see the panorama of the Falls and the rainbow made the falls more beautiful! However, I was exhausted as we needed to walk a long distance from the front of the Falls to the back. I should bring my drink and wear sport shoes for this journey.

 

I love the dinner show, “Oh Canada Eh!” It’s a show performed by singers during dinner time. I enjoyed the food while listening to the original songs sung by the Canadian singers. The singers are all very talented.

 

At night, we stayed in Niagara College Residence and it was an unforgettable experience as it was totally different from the dormitory of Brescia. We were glad that we could experience boarding life in two different Colleges.

7/8/2016

In the morning of the second day, we travelled to the Butterfly Conservatory to see butterflies. I was so worry as I was afraid of insects. At last, I overcame my fear, I started to like them and allowed them to land on my head. They are so pretty and there were more than thousand of them flying around us. Afterwards, we went for lunch and shopping at the Outlet Collection until 3:40 pm, it was crowded with Chinese!

Brescia Girls LEAD Leadership Summer Camp ~ Day 6 ~

by Lam Tsz Yan Angel (4P11)

I have been in Canada for a week! We had 4 different inspiring talks by successful women today. They were politician, firefighter, athlete and two engineers. Most of these jobs are dominated by men. However, they are doing their best to prove that women can also have great performance as men in spite of the job nature. We need more women to work for the society. I was also inspired to be more confident!

 

Afterwards, we went to have a lesson about natural beauty, I was impressed by Dove’s videos! You can watch one of them here: https://youtu.be/litXW91UauE. Real beauty is always more important than outer beauty. We may not be able to change the trend of the world as most people judge others by their appearances. However, you don’t need to care about the others’ comments, you can still shine and stay positive.

 

Today’s weather was cloudy and there was a thunderstorm warning so that we could not go to Port Stanley. In spite of this, we went to a local market and chatted with the locals! Next, we went to watch a movie called, The Secret Life of Pet in Canada! We had a great time there.