November 2014 : The what? The Conseil Jeunesse? – Sophie on tour!

Ah, the month of October! Also known as tour month. Or the month when I disappear from the office for several weeks to meet 1046 students, 98 teachers and 20 principals/vice-principals spread across 15 francophone schools in B.-C.

Why do we have this provincial tour? There is an objective behind this project: To allow young francophones from all over the province to have access to the same information concerning the opportunities available to them. Maybe one day the Youth Parliament will gather one member from every region in British Columbia and their leadership will help the growth of francophone spaces in all the communities of the province!

Utopian? Yes, but certainly not impossible.

To achieve this goal, we will meet with students, obviously, but also with teachers and principals. These precious allies know the young leaders in their schools but also know the students who would greatly benefit from an involvement with the Conseil Jeunesse. Aside from presentations, my days during the school tour vary greatly!

It’s a lot of pizza-eating, because it is the most effective way for heterogenous schools to gather all of their students at lunch. It’s explaining to students that a lobbyist is not someone who works in the lobby at a hotel. It’s a lot of time in school hallways where I sometimes get reprimanded by Anglophone principals who mistake me for a student cutting class or where I sometimes console young students who think they are all alone in the long hallway that is highschool.

Ah, the month of October! Also known as tour month. Or the month where I meet passionate teachers, devoted principals and students who we hope will get involved!