Professional Knowledge

Vikes Summer Camps

England

During my grade 10 summer, I went on a two-week long trip to England with my dad. From the minute I stepped out of Heathrow airport, I fell in love. To this day England is my favorite place, from the rich culture, history, houses, castles, and people, I feel home being there. My grandparents were from Bristol, England, which is why my father and I chose to travel there. We spent two-weeks driving around the country hitting London, Portsmouth, Bristol, Dover, Rochester, and many more cities. Since summer of 2009, I have been wanting to go back to England and teaching is a way for me to get there. I would love the opportunity to go teach abroad in England and it is my main goal for when I graduate University. I believe it can give me some amazing experience and really broaden my knowledge as a future educator.

Volunteer Experience

Through soccer at UVIC I have had many opportunities to work with various youth in the community. I have volunteered with Elementary school students as well as Middle and High school students all over the Saanich, Victoria, and Sooke school districts. I love being able to work with youth and hopefully inspire them to continue being active in whatever sport or activity they choose.

For one summer I volunteered at the Gorge Road Hospital in the Walk and Talk program. I would go to the hospital and talk the residents for walks around the grounds, or sit and play games with them, or just chat out in the garden. I loved spending time with the many different people in the hospital because I was able to learn so much.

Vikes Summer Camps

For the past few summers I have worked as a camp leader in the Vikes Soccer Summer Camp program at UVIC. The experience has allowed me to work with youth ages 7-14. Since this camp is strictly a soccer camp, a typical day consists of campers being dropped off at 9am, from there a giant group warm up is lead, then we break off into our own groups (I would have a group of 10-14 kids) and work on the skill of the day, either passing, dribbling, control, or shooting. Following lunchtime, there is a short lunchtime competition that is based on the skill of the day. Following the competition, campers are split up into teams and we play small-sided games for the afternoon. At 3pm we take the campers inside to the pool to swim. Working as a camp leader has given me the opportunity to implement many of the teaching tactics that I have learned in various classes. I have to structure lesson plans focused on teaching the campers a certain skill but also keep them engaged and make it fun. I am able to see if the campers have understood what I have taught them based on the lunchtime competition. I have loved being a camp leader as I get to combine my two passions, teaching and soccer. While the job can be quite demanding and even frustrating at times, it has taught me valuable lessons in regards to handling various situations that are thrown my way. Every day is different, tough, fun and exciting!