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Reaping the rewards of hard work Fort Smith youth volunteers at 2013 Canada Summer Games
Lyndsay Herman
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 19, 2013
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Few learn the life lessons Josh Tordiff already has under his belt at age 19, and he's taking advantage of some valuable opportunities as a result.
Josh Tordiff: Member of the Green in Sherbrooke, Que |
"What I realized coming out of high school was, if you do put yourself out there, then the opportunities will come," said Tordiff. "You've just got to be willing to put forth the effort. It doesn't matter if it's a huge effort or a small effort, but if you do put forth the effort, you will gain rewards out of it. You will benefit."
Tordiff's latest undertaking is volunteer work through the NWT Youth Ambassador program, run through the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.
The program had Tordiff in Sherbrooke, Que., for the 2013 Canada Summer Games. Tordiff, who arrived on Aug. 9 and is scheduled to return home to Fort Smith Aug. 18, did his volunteer work as part of the Green Team, which aimed to minimize the amount of waste headed for the landfill as a result of the games.
"My role as youth ambassador is to make sure the games are clean, they are environmentally friendly and everything," he said.
"Even when I'm walking down the street, I'll pick up a bottle and put it in the recycling bin and whatnot. It's been really good for my outlook on being environmentally responsible."
In Sherbrooke, Tordiff said he saw some incredible street art and athletic facilities which "spare no expense" since he's been in the Quebec city. He was also struck by the number of sports, particularly volleyball, which have been enthusiastically played outdoors in all weather at the games.
"I got to check out some volleyball here and it's nothing like what I got to play back home," he said. "It's almost like a party atmosphere out there. They play music on the beach. You've got all these people wearing their shorts. It's totally different from back home where we're all in a gymnasium and it's usually like -30 C outside and everyone is coming in to stay warm and watch volleyball.
"Here, everybody wants to be outside and it doesn't matter if it's sunshine or rain."
At home in Fort Smith, Tordiff is a lifeguard, a swimming teacher, and the youth representative for the local Metis council, a role Tordiff said he's found particularly rewarding.
He recently took a program at Aurora College to be a mineral process operator and experienced life on a mine rotation at Snap Lake Diamond Mine. He said he expects to return to the mine this fall.
"I find that a lot of people in high school get to a point where it doesn't feel like it's worth the effort anymore to get up every single day to study and go to school, but if you do put forth the effort, small or large, you will benefit small or large, depending on the effort you put in," said Tordiff.
"It's been tough, but as long as I was able to get up in the morning and go to work and go to school, have a full, complete day, I found that by the end of the day, I was tired, but I had put forth the effort and it was rewarding in the end."
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