Community Values: Lyndsey’s Award Journey

Meet Lyndsey, a Gold Award Holder from Calgary. The lessons she learned by pursuing her passion for community service and trusting not only herself but other people around her will stay with her for the rest of her life. Hear her story below.  

Pursuing her passion
“The Award has helped me decide what I wish to do after I graduate high school in the next few months, which is going into international relations. I can continue using all that I have learned through the Award by putting the knowledge that I have gained into helping my country, other countries that are still developing, or countries that are in a time of war. 

These journeys have taught me to let go and that it’s ok not to know where you are going and that you must always keep moving in the right direction. This was taught to me by getting lost on a hike and having to bushwhack for over half the hike till we got to camp. Through my time doing this Award, I have made many amazing memories and have met some cool people. 

I have continued my work with my local drop-in center serving meals and sorting clothes. I have also run a money donation for the organization that ran the non-profit clinic that I volunteered at in Costa Rica. 

The Award’s Impact 

This Award pushed me to do many things that were out of my comfort zone but now because of this Award my comfort zone has grown and I’m able to do many more things that I thought I would never be able to do. This Award has also brought me closer to some truly amazing people who I know will be a part of my life forever even if it is only the things that they have taught me or the memories that I have with them. Thanks to this Award I was able to make friends, which is something that I was never good at. 

I’m proud of my gold project. I spent a month in Costa Rica learning about health care and the medical system. I did not know much Spanish, but I picked the basics up and by the end, I could talk with some of the people in the clinic. While I was over there, I didn’t talk to my family for the whole time so I’m very proud that I was able to spend a month in a different country, speaking a language that I didn’t know and with people I had just met all without having my family to lean on. 

Why do the Award? 

I would recommend the Award because it helps you find who you are and what you are passionate and interested in, it also pushes you out of your comfort zone and teaches you how to see the world in a different way that makes you want to help others.” 

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