INSPIRING - INFORMING - CONNECTING

CATAPULT LEADERSHIP SOCIETY ISSUE NO. 14 - FEBRUARY 2015

THE ROUND TABLECatapult’s new Mentoring Program is currently in test mode with 6 catapulters. This trial will run for the rest of the school year and we’ll be ready for a full rollout in September. Mentoring can be a powerful personal development tool. It’s most commonly associated with a career, but its really about personal empowerment.

Focusing on career coaching, Catapulters will have the opportunity to work 1-on-1 with a coach, who we’ll try to match as close as possible to your interests and/or career aspirations. Meetings will be by phone, skype &/or email.

It’ll be you who sets the pace and direction. If you already know what you want to do after high school, your Coach can help identify the steps necessary to make it happen. If you don't know what’s next, your Coach can help you wade through the possibilities. You may need a lot of help - or just

advice with applications and financing options. 

The goal of the mentor is not to solve your problems. It’s to encourage, provide advice, and help steer you in the right direction. A good mentor will ask a lot of questions – to challenge you and make you think.

Stefanie MacDonald is a firm believer that everyone should have a mentor. Stefanie has been a Counselor at both camp and conference. She graduated from Dalhousie in 2011 with a Bachelor of Management, and now works with Cushman & Wakefield Atlantic (commercial real estate). She’s an entrepreneur too. At age 19, she began buying and renovating rental properties. Stefanie has had the same mentor for 5 years. And now, she’s a mentor herself, to catapulter Aliah Wilson (2012). If you’d like to join the test group - contact Lori!!

The Importance of Mentorship On Your Journey Up the MountainWe often envision our “climb to the top” as a straight line, however career paths can be full of twists and turns, great ideas and bad ones, wonderful opportunities and unexpected setbacks. I compare mentors to trail guides on a challenging hike up a mountain. The job of a mentor is not to tell you which path to take, or to point you down the path of least resistance. A mentor’s job is to show you that there are MORE paths (opportunities) than you ever thought possible for yourself, and their job is also to help you navigate your way through unfamiliar or difficult situations – in order to ensure you reach success! No two mentorships are the same. Some are formal, some informal. Some last a long time, others teach you just one important lesson.Here are some lessons I learned while travelling up MY mountain:• Your mentor is your cheerleader – and often one of your biggest fans! Your mentor can help you set career goals and take steps

to achieve them. Your goals may change and that is okay. Your mentor will be behind you encouraging you to follow your dreams.• Your mentor is experienced – and they don’t always tell you what you want to hear. Your mentor will not always agree with you;

in fact often they will often outright challenge you! But just know that growing takes time, education, patience and understanding – and that you will be more successful if you pause and listen before you make snap decisions.

• Your mentor is a great sounding board. A mentor offers a safe place to discuss uncertainties and new ideas before you go out to make your first impressions on a new employer or work colleague.

• Your mentor can make you a better communicator. Your mentor can give you honest, quality feedback on the things that you need to improve in your verbal and non-verbal communications with others, and can teach you about other formalities and expectations in the work place that you may not be aware of!

• Your mentor can help make you professionally presentable. They can give you advice on how to appropriately act, dress, speak and interact with professionals in different working environments.

• Your mentor can open doors… BIG doors. They know people.. (And those people know people too)! They can introduce you to people and opportunities that you may never even imagine on your own.

If I had been all alone on my career journey, I never would have been able to connect the dots on my own. From where I started to where I am now, every step of the way I have had help from a mentor. I had someone to sit me down and advise me in committing to an education that matched my interests and skills, someone to act as a sounding board to bounce new ideas off of, someone to facilitate introductions to professionals that I was too afraid to approach on my own, or someone to say “Stefanie ... No! Good try though! Now try again.

Your future career is not a sprint, it’s a wild and crazy, exciting, imperfect unpredictable hike up an enormous mountain – but luckily for you – Catapult knows a trail guide or two ;). Best of luck on your hike!

 

* * * * * * * * * SNAPSHOTS * * * * * * * * *

COTE PETERS - 2013

School: Fanning/Canso AcademyCool fact: I play the ukelele. Fave Camp Memory: Playing guitar at Rock Night. Future Plans: Marine Biologist or Teacher. What inspires me: My little brother (I want to be a good role model) Fave Quote: “People change. Things go wrong. Life goes on.”

CHRISTINE RHODENIZER - 2012 ERICA HANHAMS - 2014

School: East Antigonish Ed Ctre. Future Plans: Trade schoolFave Camp Memory: Free time with new catapult friends.What inspires me: I want to travel around the world.Fave quote: There are no perfect people in this world. But there are many great people. Don’t strive to be perfect, strive to be great.

School: Park View Ed. Ctre.Cool Fact: I have a pet snake named Cornelius. Fave Camp Memory: The dance. Future Plans: Nursing at NSCC. What inspires me: Wanting to be a better me.Fave Quote: “You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself any direction you choose.”

CATAPULTERS IN THE NEWSAlyssa Joudrey (2012) received Cineplex Bridgewater’s first ‘cast member of the month’ award. Kiara Sexton (’14) hosted a girls forum event in Dartmouth to discuss the challenges that females face. Two catapulters won gold at the NSSAF West Hants Wrestling Tournament - Donna Marshall (’12) won the 56kg class and Karissa Rogers (’14) won the 49kg class. Tylor Fancey (‘14) came 3rd at the Kings Edgehill Wrestling Tournament (50kg class). Drew Skidmore (’12) celebrated his 1,000th point on the basketball court! Kylie Davison (’12) was awarded the Inspiring Youth Award at Family SOS’s Courage to Give Back gala. Emma Blakeney (’12) represented Sir John A High on CTV Morning Live - speaking about Hungry Bowls. Emma also won the Michael Ardenne fine arts award for her work in grade 11. Jessie Brophy (‘14) was named Pugwash High’s Athlete of the Month for December. Gabby Melanson (’13) and her soccer team at East Antigonish Ed. Ctre. are Northumberland region champs. Austin Williams (’14) is playing varsity basketball for North Nova High, Devon Keel (’13) made the basketball team at Avon View High and Taylor Bickerton (’14) made North Kings Ed’s girls’ hockey team. Shiquell Downey (’11) is playing football at Champlain College in Quebec! JL Ilsley High recognized Kayleigh Cleveland (’13) for exemplary achievement in 13/14. Anthony Anderson (’14) has been scouted for the NS Canada Games softball team. Kristoff Mercier (’14) is hoping to go to Canada Games for track and field, and is currently ranked 12th overall in Canada for javelin. Erica Hanhams (’14) was nominated by her school for the NS Volunteer Youth Award, and Kayla Bernard (’11) was nominated for HRM’s volunteer youth award. Cassidy (Elizabeth) Gallagher (’13) was asked for an interview by CTV Atlantic after being identified as a prospect for Jordan Axani’s trip-around-the-world ticket. Hailey Veinot (’13) hopes to become a vet so she got a volunteer job at a veterinary clinic and on her first day she watched a dog undergo a c-section! Liam Fisher-Smith (’14) was named most improved player of West King’s High football team. Counselor Kevan Henshaw is volunteering for The Coldest Night of the Year walk for homeless and street youth. Congratulations to Jenny Roy (Counselor) for winning the J.W. Johnstone Award and for being named Acadia University’s ‘kinesiology student of the month’. Congrats to Monica Njoku (Director) on her new job in San Francisco! Perhaps she can connect with Counselor Kayla Hoffman-Rogers who is also living there now. Congratulations to Tony Griffin (’12, Soar) on the birth of his first child Jerome!

Need some help funding a leadership program or initiative? Maybe we can help. Catapult has a small fund available

to help you participate in leadership programs. An application is required. Results will depend on the number of requests

received and the purpose of your request. Apply any time during the year. Maximum grant is $500. Contact Lori!

Kiara for Prime Minister!HeartWood Centre is a nationally recognized leader of youth engagement programs in Nova Scotia, offering youth action teams, youth leadership development programs, youth mentoring, and outdoor recreation programs.

HeartWood’s “Taking the Lead” program recently wrapped up, which addressed the challenges and barriers that girls face. 2014 catapulter Kiara Sexton was involved. Kiara says,

“The purpose of the program was to empower young girls, teach them leadership skills and give them the resources to succeed. As a closing, my group (Spryfield) and the Dartmouth group put on an event in November for female identified youth. My role (in addition to helping plan it) was to make sure everything ran smoothly. Our objective was to teach what we had learned during our 4 month program. The topics we discussed were: activism, diversity and inclusion, gender identity and sexual orientation, spoken word & creative writing, sexual health/consent, female representation in media and pop culture and much more. A big wow moment for me, was how quick the girls were to relate to the issues and how they couldn't wait to share with others. Conversations like these can be hard and really awkward, but let's not be afraid to talk about these topics because you might actually learn

something new about yourself, or about the people around you.”Heartwood’s Skills2Action program is for youth aged 14-17 who are interested in taking action to make positive change in their community. Participants spend 3 days together and are given tools to conduct their own community development projects. S2A occurs three times a year. If you are interested in taking part, message Lori. Catapult can help subsidize some of the cost (if there is one). For more info, go to http://heartwood.ns.ca/youth-leadership-programs/

Catapult’s new Youth Advisory Council held their first meeting (via Skype). The group is being chaired by Liam Power (2010) and includes representatives from all years:  Evan Gray (2014), Kristof Mercier (2014 ), Hailey Veinot (2013), Brandon Harding (2013), Nick Dowling (2012), Kassidy Bernard (2012), Meaghan Bartlett (2011), Kayla Bernard (2011) and Tyler Sweeney (2010). Kassidy is Secretary (she prepares the minutes of each meeting) and Kayla is Vice-Chair. The Council’s objective is to provide feedback and ideas to Catapult’s Board of Directors to help us provide the programs you want and deliver them in the most effective way possible.  Their first task was to discuss communications and provide recommendations on the best way to deliver information to everyone. We’re hoping to start using other social media platforms like twitter and instagram.

The Council will change each year, so if this interests you, be sure to volunteer next year. It’s a great way for you to get involved at the program level, it’s great experience. And it looks great on a resume! But even if you’re not on the Council, we welcome any and all feedback and suggestions from all of you at any time. Or send your ideas to your Rep and join the conversation that way. We’re here to help you find success - so don’t be shy. Let us know how we can serve you better!

Looking for a job? A strong resume is key to getting an interview. So send us your resume and we’ll review it for you and help you improve it. Don’t forget to include Catapult on your resume. The fact that you were nominated and selected for your leadership qualities will impress a potential employer .

Need a reference letter? Whether you need a reference for a job application, college admission or scholarship application, we’re happy to help. All you have to do is ask.

What did the

french chef give

his sweetie for

Valentines Day?

a hug and a quiche

Team Catapult raised $500 for the Salvation Army at the Santa Shuffle !! (Katelyn Barker, Evan Gray, Taylor Bickerton, Lauren Smith, and Lori.

(Mikaela Maxwell missing)

PSSSSST .... WANNA MAKE SOME EASY MONEY??? 1. catapultcamp.com/catapulters

2. 3. 4. www. teensnowtalk.com

getvolunteering.ca

Recently on my adventures in Germany, I found myself needing advice. Our season hasn’t been going the way I hoped. Our team hasn’t been winning and difficulties with coaching staff has made practice less fun. Staying motivated has been hard for me. My strength and conditioning coach told me, “You may not be able to change the team, or the coach or the management. You can only control yourself. You came to Germany with a goal, so what have you done today to help you get one step closer to your goal?” A couple days later, an old teammate posted “Make sure that what you are doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow.” Things may not always go the way we want them to, but if you focus on what you are trying to achieve, each step whether it be good or bad will get us that much closer to our goal. YOU control yourself, YOU control your goal. And YOU can reach it!

A LETTER FROM ABBEY DUINKER

CONTACT INFO 902.830.5704

lori@catapultcamp.com

THE ROUND TABLE was named with Catapult’s medieval theme in mind. King Arthur insisted on having his faithful knights seated at a round table where everyone was treated equally and had an equal voice. Use your voice and send us your submissions for the next newsletter!

Useful Links

www.heartwood.ns.ca

APRIL 9th

FIRST ANNUAL

WEAR YOUR

CATAPULT SHIRT

TO SCHOOL DAY

Love, AbbeyCounselor and Pro Baller with the Fireballs Bad Aibling, Germany

If you see someone wearing one, be sure to

introduce yourself!

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