GO FUND ME

HELLO AUDIENCE! 

Hi friends, family, current contestants and my pretty cool public peeps,
As you know, it's April, and that means I have less than three weeks until my pageant is here ‪#‎AHH‬ well, round 1. I have till Friday to raise enough money for my participation in MISS UNIVERSE CANADA WESTERN ONTARIO 2016 FINALISTS, which is a total of $1200. This donation, the GoFundMe will go towards all the necessities I need for April 23rd that will hopefully get me to Nationals where I can attempt to compete for the title, of THE Miss Universe Canada 2016. https://www.gofundme.com/5cseuph4

I am currently in placement as a student CYW in an elementary schools and it is unpaid. I am paying for my semester, which makes sense-- it's college. But that does leave this gal tight on "dollar, dollar bill y'all" as my darling mother, Christine Rennie would say.

I'm going to add a tad of what I wrote in my speech in 2015 as an exemplar of who and what I am, but more importantly, what my experience has demonstrated for me and what I hope I can bring to the competition and to the eyes of the judges, audience, observers, staff, management, custodian-- anyone and everyone...

"When I found the guts to move forward with my life in a world that, at the time, seemed completely unfamiliar—to salvage what I could from the wreckage I created to carry on with my life I made a promise to myself: I promised myself I would be steadfast and that I would not live in the past. I would keep my head forward and hold it high, as there is an enormous difference between living in the past and looking at it. It’s ok to look at back, but as someone incredibly wise once told me the past is reference, not residence.
No two people are the same, as it should be. If we didn’t have unique, exceptional, talented thinkers or differences in our character, we would all be stuck in the same box. Can you imagine our world as it stands today without the creation of Apple? Regardless of how you feel about Apple or Jobs, the reality is that it took stepping out of his comfort zone, a socially constructed societal comfort zone, to allow us to have the resources we do. Without courage and thought such as Jobs’ we might not have the technological advancements that we do that allow us to grow, learn, and teach in and develop in different ways.

As you can maybe tell, I love quotes. Quotes, similar to music, speak to me in times when I can honestly say I don’t know how else I am going to ground or balance myself in that moment, which leads me to my last quote by Job’s:

“Bottom line is, I didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune. I’ve been very lucky in my life and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided then that I wasn’t going to let it ruin my life. There’s no way you could ever spend it all, and I don’t view wealth as something that validates my intelligence.”

The best journeys answer the questions that in the beginning you don't even think to ask and in this case, I never asked myself what “worth” meant, let alone what I wanted to amount to, but my heart and intuition knew and still knows that it is to serve a greater purpose. It is not about the influx of wealth, but rather the influx of difference. And once again, unlike graduating year classmates, the only way I could do this was by diverting from the norm—Get a 4 year undergrad degree at Laurier and decide you want to get a Ontario college diploma in Child and Youth Care!

But I absolutely love my college experience and I think that is largely because I have finally found my forte, my niche, and my passion. I no longer have thoughts of “what if” and that too feels quite wonderful.

Because now I KNOW I have a core set of talent, skills and abilities that makes me excited and want to get up every single day knowing I have no idea what to expect, but something good will surely come from it—so long as I make an effort to learn. And I try. I cannot stop trying no matter how off path I may feel. Unless I get lost of course, I will turn around at that point.
Here I want to ask, why is everyone so worried about being normal? We should celebrate uniqueness and the talents that individuals with exceptionalities can do, because it is absolutely extraordinary. And from personal experience, if used in the right direction there is no telling where you may end up!
Learning disabilities of Canada redefined the meaning of learning disabilities in 2002 to include new elements including that learning disabilities are neurobiological, genetic, lifelong and do not just affect the area of education, but affect all areas of life:

"Learning Disabilities refers to a number of disorders which may affect the acquisition , organization, retention, understanding or use of verbal or nonverbal information. These disorders affect learning in individuals who otherwise demonstrate at least average abilities essential for thinking and/or reasoning. As such, learning disabilities are distinct from global intellectual deficiency.”

If we want to help others we must be heard, but we must also be seen. In order to achieve my goals I’m not only learning to speak up, but to speak out. We need to recognize and fully acknowledge that a disability is not an inability, rather a unique set of talents, that if guided in a nurturing and supportive environment youth and adults may not be afraid of being wrong, or making mistakes; for every mistake we have an accessed to opportunity to grow and discover.
Be brave enough to trust your heart, intuition, gut, or at the very least your journey, as it challenges you to exercise both your heart and your mind as you create your own path towards happiness. Speak up knowing that your words help reset our intentions, clarify our thoughts, and create a counter narrative to the voice of doubt many of us have murmuring in our heads.

But also be sensitive to it in your own life. Listen for your call to adventure. Accept the challenge. Conquer your fear and claim the treasure you seek. And most importantly, listen to your gut and intuition- it somehow already knows where you want to be, everything else is secondary."

GO FUND ME PLEASE: https://www.gofundme.com/5cseuph4