A shared love for French
Involvement with youth forum opens up many possibilities
EDITOR’S NOTE: Clea MacIsaac is a grade 11 student at Cobequid Educational Centre and a national youth ambassador for French for the Future, representing Truro and Nova Scotia. One of her commitments as an ambassador is to share her experiences of the National Ambassador Youth Forum with the public.
In early June, I was chosen as one of the 30 French ambassadors from across Canada by the amazing team at French for the Future.
This organization promotes Canada’s official bilingualism and the immediate and lifelong benefits of learning and communicating in French to students from grades 7 to 12 across Canada.
In mid- August, I flew to Montreal for the National Ambassador Youth Forum, where I met the 29 other ambassadors. There was a representative from every province and territory, except Yukon.
We discussed the advantages of speaking French and bilingualism, in life, in school, and in university. We learned how to lead, create and plan projects, develop great team bonds and, over all, how to be good ambassadors and role models in our communities.
Of course, we did a lot of learning, but we also had a tremendous amount of fun, playing games, laughing and, of course, exploring the city of Montreal. The best part of the trip was meeting and making life-long friends with the other 29 ambassadors.
It’s incredibly inspiring to spend a week with people who all have the same love and passion for French like I do. It’s very motivating and something I’ll never forget.
I strongly believe the National Ambassador Youth Forum has changed my life in many different ways. Not just the way that I see the importance of bilingualism and speaking French, but also where I see myself after high school. Before the NAYF, I had no clue what I wanted to do at university. But over the week I was given so much advice and help from the conseillers, ambassadors and the team at French for the Future that I have a good idea of where I want to go and what I want to do.
Now, as an ambassador here in Truro, I plan to promote speaking French, bilingualism, French for the Future and the National Ambassador Youth Forum as much as possible. I have some fun projects planned for this year in the community and at school, that I can’t wait to see through.