Get Active at Bell!
I came to Bell in grade nine from Stonecrest Elementary School in West Carleton and knew a total of one person at the school and she wasn’t even in my grade. So it goes without saying that I was a little nervous on my first day at Bell High School.
From what movies had led me to believe I would be initiated by grade twelves at least once and would never be able to find my way around the school. However when the first day of school rolled around I was amazed! Mercifully I was not hung from the flag pole, humiliated in front of the student body or pushed around by the senior students (some of them even helped me find my classes).
As the days and weeks went by I was almost constantly in awe of the friendly atmosphere that pervaded the halls of Bell High School and I was hooked.
My name is Arthur Burrows and I have been addicted to Bell High School since grade nine because of the people that make Bell such a great place to spend four years. Unfortunately I know some people that don’t share this opinion in the least and slog through their high schools years always complaining about how stupid high school is anyways. Luckily you can be saved such a fate which is why I’m so happy to have been given the opportunity to write a piece for the GloBell Roar.
I would like to let everyone, but especially this year’s grade nines, know that whether you enjoy your classes or not high school will seem like a much better place if you Get Involved!!!
I can’t stress this enough! The great thing about Bell High School is that there are so many clubs to choose from that you’re bound to find one that you enjoy, and hey, if you don’t, you can always start your own!
Personally I got involved with Students’ Council and can speak to all the amazing events that we run throughout the year but to keep things short I’ll just pick one: Leadership Camp. Of any extracurricular event that I have been involved with throughout high school Leadership Camp is the most memorable. For those of you that don’t know, Bell’s Leadership Camp usually takes place from the Friday of the week after exams until noon on the Sunday (February 6th – 8th this year) and gives you the chance to meet a tonne of amazing people!
At your first leadership camp you are a delegate. This means that you are placed in a group of roughly ten students with two senior students that have attended at least two Bell Leadership Camps. These senior students are your builders (or leadership developers) and as such they guide you through different activities and games throughout the weekend which give you new skills and bring you closer to the members of your group. The great thing about leadership camp is that it really doesn’t matter who is in your group; if they’re strangers they won’t be by the end of camp and if they’re friends I can guarantee from personal experience that you will learn things about them that you didn’t know before. But you don’t just get to know the people in your group; you also get to meet everyone at camp though things such as the Coffee House which is held one of the evenings at camp with enough hot chocolate for everyone.
When, eventually, you have to leave Leadership Camp you leave exhausted but with a bunch of new friends and feeling like to belong, like you’re wanted, and like your next great adventure is just around the corner. Basically Leadership Camp is life changing and when, after a long and painful wait, you are given the chance to sign up Do It! You won’t regret it!
P.S. If you want to make the best of your high school years and get involved give Zeina and myself a visit in room 132 at lunch, we’re there every Wednesday, just knock, open the door, and prepare to be amazed.