A new year and another great line up of interns

A new year of the Youth Internship Program (YIP) began in the fall with another great line up of interns, faith formation team members and leadership facilitators: Sarah Keeshan and the  Reverends Mary-Cate Garden; Michael Garner; and Patrick Stephens join the interns and I monthly  to engage in transformative conversations about our faith journeys and how we live out or our faith. Our leadership team includes Breanna Pizzuto, Susan Young and Mylène Côté.  I continue to feel privileged to manage this incredible program, which launched in January 2016. 

This YIP year we welcome nine new interns and have welcomed back one. Please meet:

Daniel is taking a gap year this year and is interested in psychology, business, leadership and coaching soccer. He is fascinated by the psychology of trauma. He wants to help people improve their psychological state as he believes in equality on more than a materialistic level—that we need to establish equality on a psychological level, so that everybody can have the ability to be happy. 

Deborah is a Grade 12 student and a second-year intern with YIP. With a passion for visual expression and a new interest in architecture, Deborah is interested in creating art by manipulating the viewer’s space using forms, colours, and sizes. She is looking for more opportunities to explore art in her community. This year, Deborah chose to continue her placement at Extendicare Starwood so she can interact with more people of diverse backgrounds. …Being a new member of All Saints’ Westboro Anglican Church, she has quickly engaged with volunteering at the food bank and the New-to-You shop. These opportunities are helping to develop a deeper sense of empathy for those living in different circumstances and recognition of her own privilege. Deborah’s goal with YIP this year is to acquire mediation and facilitator skills in conflict management and organizational strategies in time management between hobbies, commitments, and school responsibilities.

Emmet is an active member of his faith community St James Carleton Place. Emmet is currently attending Confederation College and is taking the social service worker program with a bridging program into a bachelor of social work. 

James is a second-year student at the University of Ottawa doing a major in political science with a minor in public administration. He applied to YIP to gain practical experience in areas he is passionate about [politics, environmental justice, writing (especially essay writing), and social justice], to strengthen his connection with the Ottawa and Anglican community, and to deepen his connection with his Anglican faith and God. Those aims are difficult to fulfill in environments where learning is often deeply impersonal and very theoretical. His work placement is with Citizen for Public Justice. 

Li Xiu is a student at the University of Ottawa and a returning YIP intern. Li looks forward to actively participating in group events as well as the new work placement. Li is the YIP intern for the Anti-Racism Forum organizing team. Li enjoys wandering the city and finding delicious food spots or cooking with friends.

Malachai is a high school student and member of the LGBTQ+ community who enjoys reading and the creative arts.

Nana is the YIP intern for St Columba Anglican Church. In this role, Nana will act as their outreach resource coordinator, researching, analyzing and identifying outreach activities to determine if existing programs should be maintained, expanded or dropped; and if new outreach activities would have a more expansive and positive impact on the surrounding community.  

Rebecca is currently in her fourth and final year of a Human Kinetics degree at the University of Ottawa. A member of St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, she is honored to serve on their Parish Council and to be the Diocese of Ottawa’s youth delegate to General Synod this summer in Calgary. Originally from Vancouver she was very involved in her childhood parish as the Head of the Server’s Guild, a youth delegate to Diocesan Synod, an Outreach Committee member and a church-school teacher. She is looking forward to participating in YIP to make connections with other youth throughout the diocese and gain new skills and experiences through her placement. 

Thomas is a first-year student at Carleton University and wants to become a social worker. He applied to YIP to develop leadership and communication skills. Social justice is important to Thomas as he wants to live in a society where everyone is respected, included and safe. He would like to see high quality and affordable therapy to be available to everyone who needs it. Thomas also loves learning about new topics and having in-depth discussions with people. Thomas will be doing his work placement with Centre 454.

Zara (AKA Theodora) is a first-year student at the University of Ottawa studying finance. She is the second daughter in a family of four siblings. Zara is doing her work placement at the Glebe Wellness Centre. Her older sister Alexis was a YIP intern for the last two years. 

If you have any questions about the Youth Internship Program, please email me at [email protected]

Youth Ministry:

The KAIROS blanket Exercise has been re-scheduled to Saturday Feb. 25 at St Aidan’s Anglican Church. For information and to register please email [email protected]