Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 20, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba B2 perspective Winnipeg free press sunday june 20, 2004 Brandy Stevenson 19 St. Johns High school g etting up and off to school in the morning is Tough for a lot of teens. For Brandy Stevenson and the two year old son she a raising on her own its part of a routine that she would to miss for the world. Growing up in an unstable Home moving a lot and seeing too Many things kids Arent sup posed to see have hardened the 19-year-old?s resolve to make sure son Dedyne 2, has a stable Home. Just four years ago she was on drugs and a Grade 9 dropout. She received counselling and treatment got into a routine worked for the government funded Urban Green team sprucing up the North end and started volunteering for native organizations. It was Good. I got More motivated she says now. She then returned to school but at the begin Ning of Grade 10, she discovered she was preg Nant. I was ashamed because i was so Young. Id try to hide my she had her baby in april of that year. A week later i came Back to Steven son wanted to finish her year and get on with her education. I did to want to be 22 and Dedyne a teen father did to stick around. Her mom and grandma helped care for Dedyne until he started Day care. Now he a picked up and dropped off by bus every Day at their North end apartment. Stevenson has taken parenting classes and vows to be a Good Mother. You have your ups and Downs but you can get Back on your she plans to finish school then train to work in Day care or a group Home with kids at risk. She a come a Long Way to get to Grad but in to planning to Wear a formal gown or bring a Date. I Don to have a Boyfriend. I Don to want another third wheel id have to take care Mark Galang 18 St. Johns High school the Only thing i sense we re dreading is High school is Over. There a a deep sadness within yourself. You might not see these people As much As you a like. Grads not going to be a funeral but a Celebration of the time we had the High school athletics program was the highlight of his time at St. Johns he said. Its really kept me in school and Given me a reason to show up every he a played on almost every team at the school and said hell miss the sports and the teamwork. Its going to be really Tough to Cope Galang works part time As a detailed at an Auto dealer. His parents immigrated from the Philip Pines and urged him to work and play hard. There Are a lot of personal values ? like Rel Ishing the opportunities you have Here. The Only conflict is the year after school. They re pushing me to go right away. Id like to take a year off and work and get a Little bit of extra Galang said he a like to be a history teacher or study athletic therapy. I a stuck Between two career options and i Don to want to waste the Money if i make the wrong Choice Robert Chrol 17 River East collegiate t travelling to new York City with the River East jazz band twice to take part in the jazz at Lincoln Center program for High schools was Piv Otal for a Young musician. It was like culture Shock. It opened my eyes to a lot of Opportunity. You get there and can see Alisha Ozarchuk 17 technical vocational Institute i f you want your Grad done right do it yourself. That was Ozarchuk a motto As she and her friends took charge of fundraising and planning their Grad celebrations. They organized a Bachelor auction a car Wash and lots of Hotdog sales. She a had her Grad dress for some time. Its strapless Coral with sequins and Flowers All Over it. My Date is wearing All her Date in to her Boyfriend but one of a group of friends with whom she a going to the reception. In the fall she plans to go to the University of Winnipeg. I a scared. Its Tough to leave this place. I a kind of unsure of what i a going to do she said. I a a pretty Good student but math is she thinks she wants to be a teacher. Its a Good direction for me. I like she lives with her dad and younger brother and has worked part time at extra foods on main Street. Its opened my eyes. You see All kinds of different someday she would like to go to Ukraine with her dad to meet relatives there and learn More about her heritage. Ozarchuk said the state of the world in to something she worries about. There a not much we can do but do what we can Daniel Ferens 18 technical vocational Institute t dec voc a big cold Stone Entrance made it seem like an imposing place when Ferens first walked through the doors four years ago. He soon Learned it was All a facade. There Are 1,300 students and everyone talks to everyone. There Are no cliques said Ferens who son the Grad committee with Ozarchuk with whom he a been friends since kindergarten. I guess i a kind of a Leader. I like doing things for others and getting out and meeting people. My biggest problem is saying no a lot of the time. There Are times when i be taken on so much its after months of planning their Grad he a sparing no expense on his attire a Midnight Blue suit from Hanford Drewitt Ltd. That a costing him $700. It la be Ferens who a studied broadcasting at Tec voc said his career paths veered toward business since he started working part time at the St. James Street Canadian tire. Every Day is something new he said. He a planning to take business courses at the University of Winnipeg and the Asper school of business. I know what i want and what i Don to want ? to have a Happy marriage and get along with and to have a Corner office someday. For now though his mind is on getting Grad off without a hitch. It la be a Nice time to bookmark our time at Tec bands who can really play. Its humbling said Chrol who plays piano clarinet and saxophone and teaches music on his own time. He saudi toned for the University of Manitoba school of music and dreams of being a music teacher in Winnipeg someday. He wants a wife and children and those things ? family experiences a history and having a place that a but that stability in to about conformity he said. One thing he said he Learned at River East was to celebrate Peoples differences. There Are a lot of open minds and Amaz ing Grad is the big summing up of the last 12 years of my life said Chrol who is renting a Tux and going out with a group of friends to the party. I a thrilled to be moving on but still i a kind of going to miss this Nicole Neudorf 18 River East collegiate l Ike a sprinter waiting for the starter pistol the athlete is ready to Bolt from High school. Its been a Good experience but i a definitely ready to go and experience new after spending three months on an Exchange program in Barcelona living with a German family Neudorf said she a ready for another Cross Cul Tural experience. Once you go you have to have she has played on the schools soccer Basket Ball and volleyball teams and plans to attend the u of m to study languages next year. She plans to Combine her love of travel with the leadership and team skills she a developed from sports into a career that involves business and travelling. On take your kid to work Day she watched her construction supervisor dad co ordinate a number of projects with a number of people at the same time and that kind of teamwork appeals to her she said. Neudorf said recognition and Money Arent what motivate her career Wise ? she wants a Job where she a always learning and travelling. Her one fear is investing time and Money in a course and finding out its not what she wants. Its very stressful making those decisions she said she does to worry too much though thanks to her mennonite background and Christ Ian Faith. My family and my parents mindset is you re going to have to Trust in god that its going to be i a very excited to be graduating and moving on she said. I a ready to finish High school. A Grad dress in to a big Deal for Darshana Bascara Murty 17 fort Richmond collegiate t he Volunteer has helped out at Victoria Gen eral Hospital and raised Money for helping refugees get settled Here. Its an Issue that a close to her heart. Her parents fled civil War in sri Lanka. Bascara Murty was born in Canada and raised to appreciate and exercise her democratic rights. Youth need to get involved with stuff like that. Activism is trendy but there a been a huge drop in voter turnout she a always liked to write and plans to study journalism. She a waiting to see who offers her the Best scholarship. For now she a hoping to attend Carleton University in Ottawa an exciting place where a political Junkie can always get a fix. She expects journalism wont pay Well initially and the hours will be irregular. If she puts in her time Shell one Day achieve a sense of Secu Rity with a rewarding career decent hours Good pay a husband and children. Bascara Murty and her older brother weren to raised with a lot of extras but their parents have saved for their education. I Don to think i be Ever gone without anything i needed. I have every thing i could ask except maybe a Drivers licence. But that will come she said. Erin Williams 18 Silver Heights collegiate g graduating with an average in the Low 90s, Williams wants to study pharmacy at the University of Manitoba. But she a a bit nervous about her plan. I a scared i a going to Start taking courses and find out its not what i the High Cost of attending University is making it a High stakes Gamble. Her moms a civilian employee at the 17 Wing Canadian forces base and is suggesting that Erin join the military. They pay for your school All the Way through she said. That would relieve the financial pressure but military service May require her to leave the City. I Don to know if i want to leave. A lot of my friends Are Here. I love Winnipeg. I be grown up Here. I be always lived in St. a school trip outside of Canada made her real ize How dear Home is to her. I went to Cuba with the band. It was so different from Here. It just makes you Happy to have what you have said Williams who has worked part time at a muffin shop in Polo Park since she was 16. She spends More than an hour doing calculus Homework every night to keep her Marks up to have a shot at scholarships. Last Winter she found the time to shop for her Grad dress. Unless you get it Early you Don to have a lot of its Blue Satin and strapless with a train and a Bow in the Back. Its very Sim ple said Williams. Grad signals its time for her to leave her com fort zone of school family and friends. I feel i a very isolated Here. My schools just a few blocks away. Next year i a going to a place that a 50 Mil lion times bigger. My biggest fear is finding my classes. It la take awhile to get used to things. Its a big step for Bryce Hamilton 18 Silver Heights collegiate t he St. James teen will be presenting the Toast to the teachers at the Silver Heights Grad and he says it will come from the heart. I talk to them All the time. They re like my Backbone. They Don to crush your this year he has been serving As a Volunteer coach of a girls soccer team. But when he started at Silver Heights in Grade 9 he had some issues As Well As friends with a penchant for trouble. The teachers there saw he was a Good kid and kind of took him under their Wing. And he is pre pared to say so. I a a pretty outgoing person he said. The scariest thing is figuring out How i a going to Start making for now he a working part time at Earls restaurant on main Street setting tables. Its a party scene. Its he thinks he a do Well Selling commercial real estate ? someday. I feel like i need to get next year out of but his parents who split up when he was 12, Are encouraging him to stay in school. They Don to want me to take a year off. They Don to want me to Settle for a Job. They just want me to be he thinks he a be Happy driving a Bow and not getting stuck in a lifestyle you can to get out he a going to his Grad alone. I a not going there to entertain a he said. And he swear ing a suit. I Don to like the look of a tux.?. ;