Applicant #6: Ryan Gardner

Ryan Gardner is a 18-year-old from Toronto.

Ryan's video application:

Ryan's current situation:

Hey Y&F Ontario! My name is Ryan and I'm 18 years young from Toronto, Ontario. I'm known to be energetic and fearless, unless it has to do with asking a fine young lady to a romantic evening. I recently finished my first year taking a B.A. at UBCO on the other side of our vast country. Throughout high school, I've loved being in front of an audience. Whether it was public speaking, acting, or creating short films for school, I was always involved. I also have a passion for writing, even creating a blog a few years ago to put my talents to work!

My dedication towards helping children is something that I pride myself on. For a couple of years now, I have helped under-privileged children in Toronto’s Regent Park area become motivated in school. By listening to them, I gave them a voice; a voice to help them succeed in school and better their lives. My other volunteer experiences have been with BeadForLife, a non-profit organization based out of Boulder, Colorado, USA. BeadForLife helped me see the poverty in Uganda, and the children that go hungry every night. By making a profit on handmade jewellery that each woman creates, they are able to feed their families. These are things that are happening world-wide, but are also prevalent close to home.

My experiences as a camp counsellor and ski instructor have helped me encourage children to improve their skills which have led them to develop good self-esteem. I learned, through listening to them, how to sympathize with children and relate to them on a personal level. My determination for children to succeed motivates me to do my best on guiding them towards their goals.

My involvement with Model United Nations assemblies such as SOMA and SSUNS, for half of high school, has taught me the ability to understand and relate to the viewpoints of my assigned country, even if the country’s viewpoints weren’t aligned with my own. This experience has allowed me to truly learn the value of “walking in another’s shoes” and has also made me accepting of different ideologies and viewpoints.

Another passion of mine is travelling and being outdoors. I love nature and exploring. I’ve been on many adventures in Algonquin Park, kayaked in the islands north of Tofino, B.C., sailed in the Atlantic Ocean, hiked through the Andes of Peru, helped rebuild schools in Costa Rica, travelled to Belgium, Germany, France, England, and around the United States, but the one thing I haven’t travelled through has been Ontario. I’m a world traveler that hasn’t seen the entirety of his home. From the deep caves in Collingwood to the thunder in Thunder Bay, I want to explore everything our beautiful province has to offer.

I’ve told you nearly everything about me, now it’s time for you to decide. Am I the right person to represent you? Are my values and credentials what you’re looking for? Am I your voice?

Ryan's blog post:

Inspired by the movie "The Trotsky", I have come to think that our society, our country, and even our world, needs to change. Infrastructure has caused many great things to happen in our world, especially when dealing with business and politics, but one thing I’m sure it hadn’t intended on creating is apathy.

My generation is known as the apathetic generation, when just a few years ago, we were known as the generation for change. I’ve been told that we were supposed to fix all of the mistakes our ancestors have left for us; global warming, poverty, exploitation of children, and everything else that plagues our earth. The problem is; no one wants to be a part of it anymore. No one is willing to give up what they have, to better the lives of others. You can send money when you see an advertisement, while watching your favourite T.V. show, but does that small amount really fix the bigger issue?

My generation was on the verge of changing from “Me to We”, but something happened. People stopped caring. Everyone began to realize that their toys, their pleasures in life, were more important than the people around them. We become upset when our power goes out, or our internet dies, or our plane arrives late, but not when we hear of children, in our own city, starving because they have nothing to eat. We don’t become upset. We don’t seek out ways to help others; we seek out things to amuse us.

Even at a young age, children are taught to be entertained rather than helpful. You can say, “They’re just children” but does that really change the pattern we created? Parents buy their children forms of entertainment so they don’t have to engage with them for awhile. It becomes a constant cycle, a cycle where children learn it’s better to be entertained than it is to be helpful. We are teaching each generation to be more and more apathetic to the world around us, to only react to the things that affect us directly, not indirectly.

Our civilization was built on teamwork, but when it comes to helping others, teamwork is nowhere to be found.

Now think for a moment.

What could you do to change it? What can one person do to help the people around them? Every day, you see someone on the bus. Every day you drive by a shelter on your way to work. Every day you ignore the homeless man on the street corner. My instructions to you are to change it. Break out of the norm. Help someone in need. It’s doing the little things we don’t normally do that will make someone’s day a lot better, and if enough people are doing little things, then it can turn into on big movement.

It’s only by truly engaging in something difference that we can leave apathy behind, stop thinking solely about ourselves, and truly begin working towards making the world a better place.

Ryan