live with intention.
walk to the edge.
listen hard.
practice wellness.
play with abandon.
laugh.
choose with no regret.
continue to learn.
appreciate your friends.
do what you love.
live as this is all there is.
- mary ann radmacher
A friend recently asked me, “What are you awesome at?” It was a great question and it caught me a little off guard. What am I awesome at? Well your humble-siren flashes for a while and after it goes off you still need an answer. I want to be awesome at inspiring everyone around me to be passionate, live fully and wholly, and love every moment!
I am in constant pursuit of knowledge, adventure, friends, experiences and conversations. I believe in living and thinking out of bounds (not conforming without thinking), keeping an open mind, seeing things in a positive light, trusting my feelings and caring about people. I like to think I bring light, opportunity, ideas and happiness to those around me!
Teaching and living aboard Class Afloat to put it simply would be an absolute dream come true for me! I love the open ocean, the power of the wind, travel, adventure, teaching, interacting with new people and places and working towards making the world a better place. I truly believe that education helps enable us to do this. I think my experience in sustainable development, teaching and government partnered with empathy gained from travelling around the world and my whole hearted enthusiasm and passion for life would be an excellent fit aboard Class Afloat.
live with intention – “If you don’t know where you are going, how will you ever get there,” an often used planning quotation of a friend of mine. I will share my life experiences and education in an effort to help students grow, develop and discover their own “plan de vida”, their life purpose. This can be friends, family, career or any of a number of things, it is important to find what you are passionate about.
walk to the edge – We discovered Class Afloat in the backcountry of Alberta, sharing stories after a grueling day, at a beautiful 100 year old log cabin called Skoki lodge. It was an amazing adventure, our first time backcountry skiing and certainly not the last. In 2002, I rode a tandem bicycle across Canada, it was a summer of discovery, one that I will never forget and one that I loved and lived every moment! I continue to cherish and pursue walking to the edge! Class Afloat absolutely takes students to the edge, I will aim to support and inspire young minds and encourage them to keep the fire burning after they return and in all aspects of their life.
listen hard - A necessary quality for all good teachers and students. The class will include simple practices to create better listeners out of both the teacher and the students.
practice wellness – My parents taught us this at a young age, actively involved in many sports, riding our bikes for transportation, gardening, cooking, practicing Yoga (which I actually brought to the family), canning, preserving, jamming, making large batches of borscht for freezing and delicately folding perogies every fall. I am extremely thankful. These are pursuits I continue to this day! I will use these experiences to teach students about balance and the value of pursuing things that don’t necessarily have a dollar value.
play with abandon – You don’t have to ask twice.
laugh - Out loud, often and full hearted.
choose with no regret - Creating Sustainable Development, living on one planet, balancing social, environmental and economic aspects considering equity, poverty, resources and waste, is our greatest challenge in society. I would like to impress this on Class Afloat students and empower them with the knowledge and tools to work on solutions throughout their lives. This will be the class subject that I bring to Class Afloat; I want to help students find their passion and their balance.
continue to learn - I have many course ideas aimed at first year University Students intended to build empathy, and empower students with the tools and knowledge to work on a Sustainable Development project of their own desire. I have recently started a personal research blog on what I believe is a very important discussion for the western and northern world. I would also like to share a brief video on empathy with you that I believe can help to inspire this important value in young students. I am committed to lifelong learning; I am currently studying my masters in Environment and Management at Royal Roads University. After that I hope to move on to a PhD, learn guitar, improve my Spanish, take Yoga teacher training and complete the kiteboarding instructor certification (Spring 2011) and avalanche training (Winter 2011)…
appreciate your friends – What I can tell from the Class Afloat website and blog site is that it is all about friendship and networks. The friendships, bonds and networks that are built on route will stay with these students for the rest of their lives. I would love to be a positive part of this bond. I have learned a lot about the power of who you know not what you know in my career, that I will share. I also believe I have the greatest friends in the world and I tell them this, in many ways, as often as I can.
do what you love - One of my strengths is passion for everything that I do. I try to encourage passion through conversation and sharing and I want to inspire everyone I meet. I believe enabling Class Afloat students with passion to do what they love could be my greatest contribution to the voyage!
live as this is all there is
If I could share just a few of the ideas above, from that simple quote, and some of my experiences with Class Afloat, I would consider my time aboard successful. I look forward to discussing this opportunity further.
