Alise Artichuk
My Life Goals
Firstly, I am a hardworking, dedicated and enthusiastic student. From academics and sports to leadership and community service, I strive to excel in all areas. My education is extremely important and I have been on the Honour Roll throughout my high school career, maintaining an average of 90% in my Grade 12 year. During this year I have taken on a great amount of responsibility throughout my school and community. I received the Award of Distinction for overall excellence in academics, arts, sports and school involvement and well as the Principal's Award for Student Leadership. I was awarded the Excellence in Education Award from the Simcoe County District School Board, recognizing my outstanding academic achievements, extensive contributions to school life, and exemplary citizenship.
I have worked hard to achieve all of these accomplishments in spite of my learning disability. I have struggled with dyslexia throughout all of my academic career especially with literature. I found it challenging to read and write although I understood information when orally presented or demonstrated to me. I attended Sagonaska Provincial Demonstration School, in grade seven and eight, where there are specialized teachers, who assisted me in developing strategies to improve my reading and to incorporate technology as a learning tool. It was through this education plan that I became inspired to empower others as these teachers did for me. Attending this school taught me that I could be successful through hard work. Throughout my schooling I have used these strategies to persevere through challenges, to surpass the expectations I set for myself and will continue to do so. I am an independent problem solver and am passionate about learning for the sake of learning.
I am a friendly, dedicated and passionate person which drove me to be a very active member of my school community and often take on a leadership role. This year I was the Prime Minister of student council, a valuable member in the Outers Club and Athletics Council, a leader in Senior Band and Jazz Band, and finally a proud teammate on several sports teams, including skiing, soccer, swimming, curling, rugby, and lacrosse. By becoming involved with a variety of groups, I have acquired skills such as organization, responsibility, and perseverance. My friends would describe me as empathetic and inclusive. I communicate with them to ensure they are well, and regularly plan fun outings or study groups. This ultimately allows me to work effectively as a leader and team member. Furthermore, I supported Student Council members in planning events such as dances, spirit weeks, Mental Health Week and assemblies. Our Council also helped clubs within our school, such as the Me to We club for which we donated the proceeds from a talent show, allowing them to purchase mosquito nets for communities in developing nations. Additionally, I have been involved with Relay for Life raising money for cancer research for the past 4 years. I was Chair of Marketing and the following year became the Coordinator. Recently, I organized an event for females in our community called She CAN Play. It was to promote young women in sport inviting them to come together, inspire one another and to be active. Through this event I raised money for young women in sports, allowing the participants to engage in a fitness activity, followed by a yoga session and then inviting female guest speakers from the Canadian National Cycling Team, the Provincial Alpine Team and Provincial Paraplegic Teams to speak about their accomplishments and challenges as female athletes. I believe in the importance of being our best selves and building a strong community. I try to involve myself with as many of my interests as possible. I love to be around enthusiastic people, who like to be active and accomplish things for the good of others.
My family has given me many opportunities to explore hobbies, which I feel is important in creating a healthy work-life balance. I am a huge outdoor enthusiast who enjoys canoeing, hiking, rock climbing, camping and skiing (water and alpine). As a child, I was grateful to attend canoe trips, which allowed me to meet other kids who shared the same interests as me while enjoying Ontario’s expansive natural environment. As a result, I found that sharing my passions with others granted me great joy and happiness. After learning this, I joined the Outers Club at school which provided me the opportunity to enjoy my hobbies with friends. I believe that your success in life depends on being able to find happiness and balance within yourself as well as within nature. Over this previous March break, I yet again came to this conclusion when I had the opportunity to travel Tanzania for a Mission and volunteer my time building a school for a community. This eye-opening experience allowed me to gain an understanding of their living conditions, culture, as well as the environmental issues that greatly impact other parts of the world. During this mission trip, in addition to achieving our goal of digging the foundation, I was also exposed to the daily life routines of the locales. I helped waterproof homes, make necklaces, carry water to the community and herd goats. This recent adventure further developed my passion for protecting the natural environment and helping others globally. As Canadians we are so privileged to live in a beautiful environment as well as being free with equal opportunities. I feel a fierce sense of pride about my schooling and career knowing it will lead to helping others and helping sustain our environment globally.
Through volunteering and working in my community I have been able to share my knowledge with others in sports and activities I am passionate about. I started volunteering at Geneva Park in the Shire reading and doing crafts with the preschoolers when I was ten and then started volunteering at the boat docks helping the younger kids with kayaking and canoeing for two more years. During the winter I volunteered at Pauline Barrett Pool, which I continued to do until I was qualified to teach and lifeguard which I did as a job throughout high school. I am a freestyle ski coach and ski instructor and enjoy sharing this passion with other young athletes. As I illustrated above I believe in the importance of being your best self and building community and have taken this approach over the past two summers, to take the time to volunteer and teach local children how to water ski. Last summer, I started organizing water ski and swivel ski clinics at my home for skiers to improve their skills. Two nights a week, I arranged for National level coaches to come and work with youth. This is an opportunity that is not normally available in our area. This year I have added slalom clinics and taken a course for Ski-Ability. I currently train with the National Show Ski team, perform at a variety of local water ski shows and will be performing at the Canadian National Exhibition Ski Show again this year. This is another passion I would like to share with others and now that I am qualified, next summer I hope to offer skiing for people that are differently abled through applying for a grant for special equipment for paraplegic and quadriplegic skiers.
My immediate goal is to attend The University of British Columbia for Earth and Environmental Science because of my passion for water sustainability and our earth. My love of water and snow and my recent experience in Tanzania has compelled my interest in water sustainability. I want to innovate new ways to protect our environment and make the world a better place. I also hope to combine my love for learning with my love for the outdoors, which I will be able to do considering UBC’s strong connection to nature. My plan is to be as involved in my university community as I have been at secondary school.
While working for National Parks Canada at Lock 42 this summer, I have had the opportunity to see the large variety of environmental initiatives that our government is dedicated to that offer many career opportunities across Canada. I hope to integrate my passion for traveling, immersing myself into new environments and cultures across Canada and around the world. For example, in my most recent trip to Tanzania where we began building a school for a local community; it was a thought provoking experience to see firsthand their lack of access to clean drinking water. There was one well servicing their entire community and many people chose to use a nearby pond rather than travel long distances to get clean water. This experience has inspired me to continue contributing my time to others bettering their futures as well as mine. While I worked in communities, I would teach them that any single person can make a difference if they are dedicated and passionate. Combining my interest in the environment and travel, my ultimate goal is to generate global sustainability through innovative problem solving.
As you can see, I am very excited about starting this new adventure. Thank you for taking the time to consider my application.
Sincerely,
Alise Artichuk