Fort St. John Youth Career Fair

By Jessica Yee

October 13-14 Fort St. John, BC


Being up north holds a special place in my heart – and I was glad to return to northern BC by way of this role model visit to Fort St. John. I was asked to talk about what being a “role model” means today – which is something I have found really interesting to talk about thus far since I feel like so many youth are role models that don’t get recognized for it – and in my eyes they are already role models just by showing up to this kind of stuff (and yes even if they have to!) I don’t feel any more of a role model than a young person who can just look in the mirror and feel okay with what they see, and in fact I really want to learn from that young person on how they do that – because there are so many people in general who aren’t in a place where they feel okay with themselves.

I had fun with the students going through some youth empowerment exercises and talking about the small to big things we have to be proud of – and how personal growth and activism with things we are passionate about can contribute greatly to collective group action to make change. Lots of the youth came and sat with me during lunch and it’s always good to visit and chat – since to me – the learning never stops!