I’m starting to get used to the routine of waking up at 8:30am every morning, riding the subway for an hour to downtown Toronto and walking into the cozy office of TakingITGlobal (TIG). I’ve only been there for four days, but I already love everything about TIG, from the super friendly people to the rooms each painted with a different colour.
TIG is a non-profit organization which aims to empower youth to understand and act on a variety of global issues ranging from AIDS to climate change. TIG is composed of an online community which engages youth to take actions on global issues and various educational programs which target these issues.
I’m currently working with the project called Defining Moments. The aim of the project is to engage youth across Canada to discover different perspectives of Canadian identity through interactive workshops, an art contest and a travelling art exhibit. Yes, there are a lot of components to this great project. The workshop facilitators from across Canada are coming to Toronto for a five day orientation and I’ll be helping out at the various events they will be attending in the following week. I’ve already met some of the facilitators; they come from as far east as Halifax, Nova Scotia and as far north as Iqaluit, Nunavut. It was a delightful surprise to find a Shad among the facilitators and she went to Shad UBC also! The beautiful and awesometastic place I miss dearly.
I look forward to an exciting week composed of the Blue Jays game, a fancy dinner, time at the Harbour Front Centre and much more. This is experience is totally helping me with my PSD (Post Shad Depression)!
Joyce Chen
TakingITGlobal
Toronto, ON