TED Video

Video: Living Beyond Limits  http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_purdy_living_beyond_limits.html

This Ted video is really inspiring.  In the video Amy Purdy talks about her dreams and the challenges she conquered to achieve them.  The day after her high school graduation she moves to a place with snow and worked as a massage therapist but she always dreamed of becoming a pro snowboarder.  One day she went home from work early with what she thought was the flu it turned out that she had bacterial meningitis and then two days later she had lost both her legs, her spline, and kidneys.  What made this video so interesting and inspiring is that after a couple of months of depression she finally accepted her new reality, but not any limitations.  Amy didn't find any prosthetics that would allow her to snowboard, so she built her own.  Amy asked herself: “If life were a book and I was the author how would I want this story to go?”  At that point Amy new that she wasn't going to let her condition keep her from her dream and she was determined to snow board again.  Today, she is a world champion female adaptive snowboarder.  In 2005. she co-founded Adaptive Action Sports, a non-profit dedicated to introducing people with physical challenges to action sports.  After watching this video is make me more appreciative of how good I got it, and inspires be that the obstacles that we face everyday that people feel that they can't overcome are possible to overcome if you just don't let them stop you.  Amy is living beyond limits!

All About Me!

        Hello my name is Gina Adams, throughout my life I have participated and have been involved in many activities that helped me develop leadership qualities.  I have always felt that if you have good leadership skills you will be someone that people can look up to as someone who can make a difference.

        When I was younger I had no idea that the things I did would have such an importance in my life, like being apart of girl guides, dance, and various opportunities at school.  But now I can truly say that they helped me be who I am today.  Girl Guides is an excellent program where I made new friendships and got involved with my community.  Starting out volunteering at such a young age just seemed normal.  It felt like something I should do.  I am so glad to say that I have given back to my community in so many different ways.  In elementary school I was a prefect which is someone who helps out the teachers by supervising the younger classes at recess time.  Perfecting was the first time I was responsible for a group of people and it made me realize that leading and helping was a  great thing to do.  In grade five I joined the school choir (Beachy Tones) being apart of the choir helped me come out of my shell and less shy.  I think that a good leader can be someone that is shy but when they come around and get used to the people they aren't afraid to take stand and make a difference.

         Junior high is the chapter of my life that highlighted my capability to be a leader.  In grade eight I was asked to be apart of the schools leadership team.  I gladly accepted!  The leadership team gave me an opportunity to plan events that would help inspire others to get involved, and to try to make school events as fun as possible.  It enhanced my team working and communication skills too because we had weekly meetings.  Also being on the leadership team gave me the opportunity to meet leaders of St.John's and Newfoundland as a whole.  We would have a leadership luncheon at least once a month.  We as a group have had lunch with Danny Williams and had the chance to ask him questions about him throughout his leadership role in our province.  Leary's Brook Jr. High also had a guitar ensemble which I was a part of too.  I didn't even know how to play a chord when I started but it showed be that taking risks can be a good thing.  In my final year of Jr. High I took part in the Asper Program which is an educational program about the Holocaust and Human Rights.  This program made me realize of all the different kinds of people in the world some good and some bad and it made me want to make a difference in the world.  Towards the end of grade nine I was also on the committee to plan our school leaving activities.  My school had and activity night and throughout the planning for that night I meet people who worked with the city of St. John's and they told me about the M.A.C.Y (Mayors Advisory Committee on Youth) committee.  Being accepted to be apart of the M.A.C.Y committee got me more involved with the youth of the city and involved with planning of the annual youth week  Also, I was apart of my church's youth ministry group that planned events to try to get more youth and younger children to take part in the church.  And along with being on numerous committees and groups I was on the soccer and basketball teams which was a great chance to build up on my team working skills and had time for piano lessons too.  Even with my busy schedule I still had time to pull off excellent grade too.  Lastly, and most importantly my Jr. High gave me the opportunity to apply for HORIZONS.  With the acceptance to be a Horizons student I participated in LDW and got to meet so many new people with similar interests as me.  LDW also expanded on my leadership skills and will be an event I will never forget.

        Now I am currently completing the Bronze Level of Duke of Edinburgh Award which is a great way to expand on your skills and interests.  Duke of Ed. helps me be the well rounded person I want to be.  I am still on the M.A.C.Y committee.  Also, the drama course I am doing in school is helping me with come out of my shell and be less shy with the public speaking thing.  I also volunteer at the horse race track with my best friend.  And I am really looking forward for Leap next year too.

        Volunteering is something I consider shapes a leader to be a more caring person.  I have volunteered with my church, my school, my community and much more.  I volunteered with my church's Sunday school where I helped the children get involved and with the youth ministry group.  In my school I have volunteered with different events such as school leaving and now this week I am volunteering with my careers class bake sale to raise money for family in nee over Christmas.  Also, I have volunteered at numerous community event for the kids like breakfast with Santa Claus, Halloween Party and much more.  I also received a volunteering recognition award for my community.  And most recently my friend got me involved with volunteering at the race track where we get the horses ready to race and wash and take care of them after wards.  When I volunteer it makes me feel good that I am giving back to my community.

        I am still not sure about what I want to do for my career but I know that if I work hard enough I will accomplish anything I want to be.  I already now that if you don't have to work hard it probably isn't something worth having.  And besides this is just the beginning.  One of my favorite quotes is:  "Today is where your book begins the rest is still unwritten."