Western Ivey AEO Supplemental Essay: Character |Josephine

*NOTE: since I applied the application has changed slightly, but this is a good basis. Once the application is released this year, I will update accordingly.*

Deck Supervisor: 416

I have been working for the Town of Oakville Department of Recreation & Culture since September 2015. I began working as an Instructor and Lifeguard and in September of this year I was promoted to the position of Deck Supervisor. As a Deck Supervisor, I am responsible for effective program delivery, safety supervision, facility operations, administration and staff management. I must demonstrate knowledge of Oakville Aquatic Services policies, procedures and best practices in order to effectively serve clients of the facility. This position also requires me to respond to medical emergencies following guidelines and standards outlined by the Canadian Lifesaving Society. During my time with the Town of Oakville, I have dealt successfully with a variety of incidents ranging from mild neurotrauma injuries to minor body lacerations. I must rectify my Standard First Aid, CPR ‘C’ and National Lifeguard every two years.

One of that main duties of this position is the overseeing of deck and pool operations during both lessons and recreational swimming. It is crucial that all Ontario Pool Regulations and Town of Oakville policies are being enforced to ensure a safe environment during both of these times. During lessons, I am required to consistently support instructors and organizing classes to ensure that the Town of Oakville is always being represented to the highest standard. Outside of lessons, I am responsible for overseeing the aquatic staff and pool operations on behalf of the pool’s coordinator to ensure the Town is being represented to the same high standard as during lessons. I also evaluate the aquatic staff to assist the coordinator in writing the evaluations of those members.

In this position, I serve as a connection between Senior Management of the Recreation & Culture Department and facility patrons. I deal with a variety of circumstances including public relations, answering questions and dealing with complaints. In this position I am constantly problem solving and working to find solutions. Being able to find compromises and make judgement calls are often key components to this job. Being in this position has taught me many things including staff management and conflict resolution strategies. Interacting with members of the public has also improved my ability to engage in both a professional and friendly manner. Overall, the skills I have learnt are definitely ones that will prepare me for future careers, school, and day-to-day life.

Social Convener: 490

For the past two years, I have served as an executive member for the Etobicoke School of the Arts Student Council. This year I was elected to the position of Social Convener. In this position, I am in charge of organizing the council’s spirit and social events. Thanks to the experience I have gained over the past two years on the council, I am seen as a role model and knowledgeable leader to other members. As an executive member, a lot of teamwork and managing group dynamics is involved. I am asked to lead discussions, as well as brainstorm, and worked successfully with students in all different grades and majors. I believe that both leadership and teamwork skills are key to anyone wanting to pursue business as both are required to be successful in many postsecondary and workplace scenarios.

The council’s largest and most complex event and the one I am responsible for is the semi-formal dance. This year, my main goal was to rebrand the event to appeal to all grade levels and groups. Given the overwhelming musical talent of my school, it was my opinion that the best way to rebrand ourselves and attract a wider demographic would be to have the music provided by student DJs and bands. I organized and facilitated an audition process in which interested bands were required to submit an application with sample tracks to the council. The response was shocking; we received submissions from 10 artists. So far the response has been great and have there is a lot excitement built up around the event.

The second initiative I introduced along with the student musicians was the development of a theme to the dance. Based on conversations with classmates, it came to my attention that students wanted to have a larger say in the outcome of the dance. As a council, we made a decision that the theme would lay in the hands of the students and I facilitated that by making a poll so that the students for the students to chose from.

Organizing and delivering a successful semi-formal has required significant project management skills, as there are big decisions to be made and very important deadlines must be met. Along with management skills a lot of teamwork is required to organize an event of this size. I have had to work closely with the school administration, the venue and the caterers as well as my Council colleagues. It has been challenging at times, as it is impossible to please everyone, and sometimes people can be quick to criticize decisions that are made. I am proud of how much student involvement there has been in developing this year’s event and feel comfortable that I have done my best to make it successful and well attended. We are now two months away from our semi formal date and will start more advertising, promotion, and selling tickets in mid-January on a deposit basis.

Rugby: 413

I have been playing competitive Rugby since 2012 with the Oakville Crusaders Rugby Club. This sport, through its team nature and focus on discipline, has become an important component to who I am as a person. When I started Grade 9, I was ecstatic to learn my high school had a Sevens rugby team. When I arrived at tryouts, I was shocked as I was the only Grade 9 student present. Regardless, due to my knowledge and ability I was given a position on the team. Although I was the youngest on the team, I was one of the most experienced players thanks to my time playing with the Crusaders Rugby Club. This experience allowed me to take on a leadership role, assisting the coach with coordinating practices and supporting player development. To my excitement, that season we did quite well, winning the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) West Division and qualifying for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association (OFSAA) championship tournament.

After three years on this team, I was incredibly pleased to be nominated as the team captain. As captain, I was tasked with assisting players both on and off the pitch. The season was filled with many good times but very stressful ones too. The squad sadly were faced with many injuries throughout the season including one very serious one that occurred on the pitch. In addition rugby can become quite heated as it is a very physical sport. My ability to stay calm and collected was essential to keep all of the other players both calm and focused. From this experience I learnt the key to being a good leader is being a good role model and something that people want to follow. This is why I am a strong believer in the “leading by example” methodology, so I would always try to be the best version of myself before, during and after the games. That season we were also lucky enough to have an amazing Director of Physical Education who was able to recruit an additional coach from the Toronto Dragons Rugby Club. The training we received from our new coach led to significant team development, increasing the team’s abilities and strengthening our bond with the game. My efforts in the position of captain were honoured by being given the team’s Most Valuable Player award for the season.

Drama council

In grade 11 (2015) me along with two of my friends and the supervision of our drama department head, founded Etobicoke School of the Arts first drama council

The intent behind this decision was to improve the cohesiveness within the major and within the grades but also across the grade levels

We also wanted to change the feeling of the major a build the Drama department’s reputation up both within the school and in the outside the community

The final motivation behind this project was to create a support system for everyone in the major

So far we have brought merchandise out that was available drama students and we organized a silent auction to raise money for our department so we could improve the productions of our shows and bring in guest artists. finally organized a drama afternoon where we created teams with a mix of age levels and competed against each other. This drama afternoon really brought our major together and created relationships with people of all grades

This year we are once again organizing a silent auction to raise money for our department and our students

Publicity and Communications

In my Grade 11 year I was nominated as my Student Council’s Publicity and Communications Representative

In this position I was to act as Council’s Public Relations Director

I was also responsible for reading the morning announcements and being voice for our council and our school

My goal starting as Publicity and Communications Representative was to increase the council’s presence online

As P&C representative I would post weekly on our instagram to advertise for events, keep the students updated about what we were working on, and fun photos taken at our events.

Increasing our presence online was a big step in the right direction for our council because we live in an age where we are always connected and that is the best way to get information out to our student body.

I was also responsible for the promotion of all council events and organizing things such as posters, announcements, and tickets.

I also started a school-wide game called ‘Gotcha’ in relation with council which I continued on into this year. It’s a game similar to assassin (that is played a lot of high schools) with a few variations.

When I arrived I was astonished to find there wasn’t a game at mine as everyone always raved about the game elsewhere.

In coordination with council I organized and ran this game as a fundraising event.

It became very popular around our school hence why we continued it on this year. I also found it was a great way to break down barriers between grades and was an event that got everybody talking.

Volleyball

I have been on my high-school’s volleyball team since 2013 first as a junior player and now as a senior

In my grade 10 year we won the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Tier II West Division

Practices this year are typically 2 times a week starting at 7:30am

Ski racing

I have been skiing my entire life and it have always been one of my favourite hobbies and family activities

When I moved to Canada I started my career as a competitive ski racer and have been racing ever since

This sport involves a lot commitment of time, money and heart with races being 200km away

We train 2 to 3 times a week with practices ranging from 3 to 8 hours

I was also lucky enough to attend three ski racing summer camps, one in Whistler and two in Mount Hood. These were one week intensive trainings where we would train for 5 hours in the morning and would do other activities in the afternoon such as hiking or swimming

In my time as a ski racer I have competed in over 40 races all over Southern Ontario.

In the past 3 years I have competed in 20 races and have been in the top ten for over 10 of them. Out of those top 10 finishes 4 have been on the podium.

In my current division I race against FIS level racers some up to 30 years old. I however compete against others up to 21 years old age. In my first year in this division I was 16 years old and was thrilled with the results as one of the youngest in the division

I also tune all of my equipment myself including waxing, sharpening, maintenance, and anything else that needs to be done. Tuning your skis is essential to being successful in ski races and must be done once a week to keep the skis in proper condition. The tuning process takes an hour for one pair of skis

I also participate in dryland training during off season

Dance

I have been dancing since the age of 3 starting with ballet then moving to other types of dance such as modern, tap, acro, lyrical, jazz and more

I have been at my current studio, Balletomane, for 7 years and within that time danced anywhere from 2 to 12 hours a week.

My studio is technique-based and starts from a very young age just focusing on ballet. This is to start technique training from a young age so you can transfer that technique to all kinds of dance in the future

At my studio we perform in two shows a year, one in December and one in June

This year I am doing both hip-hop and jazz and I dance twice a week

I also had a hand in choreographing the graduation dance that the graduates performed in our Christmas show

We rehearse extensively for the months leading up to the show and have rehearsals that can last up to 8 hours

Dance involves a lot of discipline, strength, and demands a lot. In dance you are always pushing yourself and your body to the absolute limit

Dance trained me from a young age that hard work is the key to success and that has been one of the most useful skills to me in my day-to-day life

Dance volunteering

I have been dancing since the age of 3 starting with ballet then moving to other types of dance such as modern, tap, acro, lyrical, jazz and more

I have been dancing at Balletomane since 2009 and in Grades 9, 10, and 11 I was lucky enough to help out with a Tap & Jazz class for 4 and 5 year olds

This class occurred every Saturday morning and Ms. Spatafora, myself and another helper would run the class teaching basic technique and skills

This class would perform twice a year in our studio’s Christmas and June performance one of which would be jazz and the other doing tap

My responsibilities included organizing the class and keeping the students under control as well as having a hand in teaching new skills and giving tips to improve on old ones

Track and field

I have been on the Track and Field team for grade nine, ten and eleven

I have competed in 100m hurdles, long jump, and triple jump

Plan on pursuing it again this year and competed in 400m hurdles as well as 100m

This team on average had practices three days a week where the hurdlers would focus on endurance, sprinting, but mainly technique

Sears

In my grade 11 year I was lucky enough to be chosen to act in Etobicoke School of the Arts production of Finding the Sun to be entered in the Sears drama festival

The Sears Drama Festival is held every year all over the country and they receive over 350 entries every year

I played Gertrude the older women in the play who is the mother of the character Cordelia

This play was 50 minutes long in which all characters appeared on stage for the entire production. This required us to be in character for the whole play and never to break whether we were in a scene with lines, acting in the background, or in tableau for up to 4 minutes at a time.

This play was completely student acted and almost fully student directed and produced

Rehearsals would run 3 to 4 days of the week and anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours

I learned a lot from this process and from working with my fellow students and friends

Although challenging at times we all worked through it and ending up putting on a great production

Mainstage

For my last year at high school I really wanted to be in my school’s largest drama production referred to as Mainstage. To my excitement I was chosen to act in Etobicoke School of the Arts 2017 production of Our Town

In Our Town I play a character called Professor Willard as well as another part in the final act as Women Among the Dead

In this play I appear in all three acts and the entirely of the third. When playing Professor Willard I have a monologue educating the audience about the history town and it lasts about a page long

Rehearsals are typically two to four times a week and run from two to six hours long with the occasional Saturday rehearsals lasting eight hours

My school is lucky enough to have connections to the Stratford Festival along with connections to a very experienced costume designer. Due to this we have costume workshops being run with a designer to design costumes for each character. This team is then travelling to the Stratford Festival renting the closest dupes to the costumes designed

We also have a very elaborate set that was designed by our production team along with an experienced set designer

We are now entering our last two weeks before this show hits the stage. These weeks will be full of rehearsals but I am excited to be apart of the makings of this amazing show

Referee

I started as a soccer referee when I was 14 years old and hope to continue for many years to come. The interest came from being a player myself and wanting to see to other side of it.

To become a basic referee you are required to take a course lasting a weekend

When starting out as a basic referee and I refereed house league games for children anywhere from 7-12 years of age

In my second year of refereeing I had the opportunity to start reffing higher level games such as Under 14’s and festivals for representative soccer teams up to Under 12’s. This was a rare opportunity for someone of my age and was a big push a young referee. This experience is what made me fall in love with refereeing and made me know I wanted to continue.

In my third year was invited to upgrade my certification to become a level 5 referee. This course was two days long with an exam at the end to test your skills and then one final day to bring our new knowledge to video. With This new certification I was now able to referee representative league games for ages up to U15.

In the summer of 2016 as well as working for the Town of Oakville as an Instructor Guard I worked as Referee for the Golden Horseshoe League and for the third year the Oakville Soccer Club

In my region of the Golden Horseshoe League there are few female referees under the age of 18, something that really set me apart. I was determined to make myself stand out and represent this group well as an official to the teams and as a colleague to my fellow referees. Refereeing relies on split second decisions where you must trust your instincts and training. It has taught me to trust myself and my knowledge as well as my fellow referee’s. Throughout my time I have dealt with many things such as yelling coaches, players falling unconscious, and annoyed parents. As soccer can become a very heated game I have learnt how to talk people down and maintain control of the game dealing with both coaches or players.

Being both a player and a referee I understand what it’s like as I live it from their point of view. I feel that this gives me a edge as I am able to connect and relate to the players

Portfolio Day

On October 28th of this year I had the pleasure of participating in Etobicoke School of the Arts 7th Portfolio day

I am lucky enough to attend one of the best high schools for art and photography in the world and was thrilled with the opportunity to have representatives from universities all over the world look at my art.

My art ranges from photography to film and I also dabble poetry

I had over 50 images to choose from with only space for 30. With the help of my teacher we were able to narrow down and curate all of that art that I had made in my past three years.

I then had the job of organizing all of my work and choosing what size to display what pieces. To do this I asked a lot of my fellow artists what pieces they liked the best to decide what size and how prominently they should be displayed

I also displayed 3 films and 10 pieces of writing

The day started at noon and ended at nine at night and for almost the full nine hours I was talking to either representatives or the public

This day was very mentally straining as I had put my heart and soul into my art that professionals of the industry were critiquing and discussing with me

This experience was so amazing and humbling and it was one that I will always treasure as an artist

Black History Month

This year I am apart of the leadership team for our Black History month assembly as the Assistant Stage Manager

This show is put on to celebrate culture, educate the students, and acknowledge our history

This show is a mix of many different art forms including drama, vocals, spoken word, hip-hop, film and more

It is one of the most anticipated shows of the year and in enjoyed immensely by the student body

This year the goal of the production team was to have an evening show as well as an assembly. For the evening show we would have more material as well as smaller performances and an art show. The art show would feature pieces by black artists, featuring people of colour and relating to racial issues or culture

As assistant stage manager, I am responsible for taking notes and minutes during meetings, performances, and rehearsals

I take notes on things that need to be changed or altered as well as notes for the performers such as speak up, move into your light, or slow down

Closer to the show and when we get in our performance space I will be on a headset organizing lighting cues, entrances, exits, and the movement of props

The show is on February 16th and we are now into the process of pulling the show together

International Work Internship – London, England

In april of 2016 I had the opportunity to travel to England and work in the insurance industry for two weeks. For the majority of my two weeks, I worked at Willis Towers Watson in Aviation Insurance, specifically with the North American group. I travelled around with brokers and had the chance to negotiate with underwriters from different companies, working with them on many different deals. I also did the 2015 Lay-up for a Private Jet Company called TAG Aviation. Along with working with the North American Willis group I worked with Willis Reinsurance, Willis Space Insurance, and on the Cathedral and Liberty International Underwriting boxes in the Lloyd’s of London. I learnt a lot in 2 weeks and really enjoyed the time I spent there. This is a field that I am interested in pursuing in the future and the trip was a good introduction into the industry. This trip taught me that face to face interaction is still very important. In insurance, almost all deals are made face-to-face and human connection is an integral part of being successful. As I attend an Arts school and specialize in drama I am very comfortable in front of people and I would consider it one of my strengths. It is something that I really enjoy as I definitely feed off of the energy of others.