INSPIRING - INFORMING - CONNECTING

CATAPULT LEADERSHIP SOCIETY ISSUE NO. 20 - JANUARY 2017

THE ROUND TABLE

On January, 13th, Catapult started the new year with a bang. Our very first fund-raising event was presented by our wonderful community partners at Bloom Wealth & Legacy Planning.

We enjoyed “Illumination”, a

benefit concert in support of Catapult featuring talented East Coast artists Rose Cousins, Moe Kenney, the Heartbroken and Grammy winner Gordie Sampson. Danny Graham and our own confidence guru Nancy Regan were the fabulous emcees. Almost 300 guests attended and all together a whopping $35,000 was raised for Catapult!

The highlight of the evening was hearing heart-filled shares from 4 of our Catapulters. Courtney Mason ’09, Zach MacMillan ’09, Kassidy Bernard ’12 and Kiara Sexton ’14 courageously took the stage and spoke about how Catapult impacted their lives. In sharing their journey, they impacted everyone in the room with their courage and determination (as well as polished public speaking skills!).

The ‘behind-the-scenes’ included Catapulters who volunteered to help set up and execute the event activities. Sandrico Provo ’09, Kullen Wrathall ’09, Martha Barrett ’10, Kayan Wesley-Sterck ’14 and counselor Katelyn Barker all pitched in to operate reception, coat check and sell raffle tickets. Tyler Sweeney ’10 racked up some experience towards his event management career goal by being Lori’s assistant and directing our volunteer group! A great big thank you to Bloom Wealth, to our event sponsors, to our Emcees, to our Artists and to our Catapult volunteers!

Catapult’s 1st Alumni Development Workshop was a BIG success!

Our  first  full-­‐day  workshop  for  alumni  was  held  on  Nov  26th  in  the  boardroom  of  our  host  Stantec,  Dartmouth.  

Stantec  is  a  huge  company  of  engineers,  architects  and  scientists  with  22,000  employees  working  around  the  globe.  (No  wonder  so  many  of  our  Catapult  engineering  students  showed  up!)  Stantec  is  dedicated  to  supporting  their  community  and  we  were  thrilled  when  Marc  Skinner  (PhD,  Marine  Biology)  offered  to  help  organize  our  day.  Other  Stantec  staff  volunteered  to  speak  on  the  important  topics  of  networking  as  well  as  interviews,  resumes  &  job  searching.  Scotiabank  shared  tips  for  good  money  management  skills  and  Lori’s  husband,  Chris,  shared  his  entrepreneurial  wisdom  with  a  fun  creative  activity.

The  students  who  attended  said  they  benefited  most  from  realizing  how  important  networking  is  when  finding  a  job.  They  were  able  to  practice  to  improve  their  networking  and  communication  skills  and  Corey  McNamara  said  this  was  a  valuable  topic  he’d  never  experienced  before.  Stantec’s  Human  Resources  specialist  took  the  students  through  the  actual  interview  process  by  asking  specific  questions  and  by  the  time  she  was  done,  all  students  felt  more  equipped  for  job  searches.  Money  management  was  described  as  ‘eye-­‐opening,  sobering  and  terrifying’  and  Tyler  Sweeney  suggested  it  could  be  a  day’s  workshop  in  itself.  The  students’  entrepreneurial  presentations  were  entertaining  and  they  had  Lori  in  fits  of  laughter.

As  always,  any  time  a  group  of  Catapulters  gets  together  it’s  a  great  time,  including  lunch  onsite  and  an  impromptu  Swiss  Chalet  dinner.  Participants  gave  us  some  great  ideas  for  future  workshops  and  get  togethers  -­‐  stay  tuned!  And  we  were  so  happy  with  Marc,  we  asked  him  to  join  our  Board!!

Back:  Zach  MacMillan  ’09,  Host  Marc  Skinner,  Nikki  Shahin  ’12,    Tyler  Sweeney  ’10,  Liam  Power  ’10,  Lori,  Mehdi  Abdulrahman  ’10,  Director  Ashley  Doyle,  Sandrico  Provo  ’09.    Front:  Sascha  Krizsan  ’10,  Corey  McNamara  ’11,  Jane,  Bailey  Dowding  ’16,  Ian  Farrell  ’12.  (Not  all  students  who  attended  are  pictured.)

Catapult has been Illuminated!

BRIANNA GREEN - 2015

School: Shelburne Regional HighCool fact: I play a lot of xbox Fave Camp Memory: Going to meal hall early with Tyrell, Amber, Livi & Katrina! Fave Quote: "Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats” What inspires me: Catapult for showing me who I can be & what I’m capable of.

CRAIG CAIN - 2014 HALEY WHITEWAY CROWELL - 2016

School: Dr John Hugh Gillis Cool Fact: I can play the African drums Fave Camp Memory: Meeting everyone. Future Plans: Nursing Fave quote: "Don't worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try.” What inspires me: Catapult inspires me to be the best me!

* * * * * * * * * SNAPSHOTS * * * * * * * * *

Bailey Dowding ’16 won the Award for Most Dedicated Member of the Double D 4H Club & ran for and won the position of President for her club. Camilla Gomez ’16 placed 6th of 78 in shooting. She’s the only Nova Scotian competing for a spot on Canada’s national rifle team to compete in England! Liam Abbott ’14 and Haley DeWolfe ’14 reunited at NSSSA’s N-Trip . Kayley Dixon ’16 went to Key Leader

Camp. Kayley and Kayla Bernard ’11 both applied successfully to RBC’s #Make150Count Contest. Armed with $150 from RBC, Kayley made care stockings for the homeless at xmas, and Kayla is distributing “Birthday in a Bag” packages to parents facing financial hardship. Alekz Slaunwhite ’16 won her first wrestling tournament & is currently at the top of her O2 class. Anthony Savory ’14 joined the military. Alex Sack-Redden ’16 helped put together xmas packages for the homeless with soaps, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hats & gloves. Kristof Mercier ’14 hung baggies of socks/mitts/candy on lamp poles for those in need. Kristoff is a finalist for the $100,000 Loran scholarship! Tyanah Beals ’16 is tutoring math at the Halifax North Memorial Library. Taylor Bickerton, Haley DeWolfe and Kiara Sexton (all ’14) were crowd pumpers at We Day and Isaac Miller ’15 volunteered with sales. Haley Whiteway-Crowell ’16 is leader of her school’s dance committee and GSA, and she organized a new bullying group. She’s also volunteering at her local hospital 2x a week and works at Sobeys! Tyrell Byard ’16 gave a presentation to his school about Catapult. Derica Poirier ’16 has planned a school event for Bell’s Let’s Talk Day with speakers, entertainment and tshirts to raise $$. She’ll have ipads there for people to text & tweet. Grace Hennigar ’13 is offering tutoring help in math, science & english to high schoolers during the strike. Director/Counselor Stefanie McDonald was named one of “16 Haligonians Who Did Amazing Things in 2016”. College and University acceptances are in full swing: Katie Black- NSCC (music), Kiara Sexton - Acadia (Sociology), Lauren Smith - Dalhousie (Recreational Therapy), Mitchell MacKinnon - Dalhousie (Pre-med), Kristof Mercier - U. Moncton (Pre-med), Liam Abbott - Dal (Kinesiology), Anthony Anderson - St FX (engineering), Skye Smith - MSVU (Biology).

CATAPULTERS IN THE NEWS

School: Citadel HighCool Fact: I’m starting a cooking program at Hfx Central Library! Fave Camp Memory: Counselors catching 8 of us congregating in 1 dorm room. Future Plans: Culinary Arts at NSCCWhat inspires me: My mom. She works really hard and wants me to be happy.

Thanks to Mekayla Bull’s (‘15) leadership, Catapult entered a team into the Santa Shuffle again this year. “Even though we were from different years and towns, we worked so well as a team. We chose to sell raffle tickets on a gift card tree and raised $375 for the Salvation Army. It felt great helping families in need.” Pictured are: Maranda Chase ’15, Lori, Katrina Manette ’16, AJ Padfield ’15, Brandon Gosbee ’15, Kaley Dixon ’16 and Evan Gray ’14. Mekayla is kneeling beside Santa. No wonder she’s smiling - by leading this initiative she’s already completed her Catapult Plus pay-forward project!! We look forward to hearing her present this project in more detail at conference. Well done Mekayla! If anyone else would like to organize a Catapult team for a charity event, Lori is always happy to help get you started.

< Skye, Lori & Joel

10 Ways to Make Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be (Adapted by an article written by Tim Hoch)

1. Assign blame and intent! Take it as a personal insult and feel offended every time a friend doesn’t text back, a driver cuts you off, or someone eats the last poptart. Things happen everyday to everyone. A lot of people choose to see them as intentional insults. They get offended and upset and sometimes look to get even. Happy, confidant people don’t react like that and don’t take things personally. Truth is – their actions usually have everything to do with them and nothing to do with you. They’re not out to get you - they’re simply lost in their own problems. As Nancy Regan told us – always remember there’s a flip side to every pancake!

2. Be the star of your own movie! Of course the world revolves around you! You are the star of your own movie in that you write your own life script and only you know how you want your storyline to go. But unfortunately, nobody else has the script, so they may be unaware of the role they ‘re supposed to play. Yet when they screw up their lines (or fail to fall in love with you) your movie is ruined. Hold on to your hopes and dreams, but lose the script and let life happen. Let someone else star once in awhile. Welcome new characters. Embrace plot twists.

3. Fast forward to apocalypse! Always assume the worst possible outcome! Don’t get side-railed by events that aren’t likely to even happen. Your less than stellar quiz will not force you into a life of flipping burgers. Your sore throat is not cancer. Just because he didn’t text back in 5 seconds doesn’t mean he’s cheating with your best friend. Negativity breeds more negativity. It is a happiness riptide that can carry you away and pull you under.

4. Keep your expectations unrealistic and private! Feel crushed when your boyfriend forgets the 6 1/2 anniversary of your first snapchat! The harsh reality is - your friends and family cannot read your mind or anticipate your whims. So if it’s important to you, let them know. Unmet expectations can be at the root of most of the unhappiness in life. Keep your expectations realistic, share them with those who matter ... and maximize your joy.

5. Look for a sign before you act! Don’t risk making a wrong decision, wait for a sign to descend from the heavens. We have decisions to make every day — what to wear, what to eat, what to do. Some are no-brainers and some are inconsequential. Then there are the BIG decisions. Sometimes the more you think, the more confused and stuck you feel and you just want a voice from the heavens to tell you what to do. Avoidance isn’t a great strategy for life success or happiness. Any decision involves a leap of faith. Use your head but also listen to your heart. Consider your short/long terms goals, evaluate the pros and cons, talk to someone who cares, listen to your intuition. And then don’t look back unless it’s to learn from mistakes and keep going.

6. Don’t take risks! Stay inside your nice comfort zone where life is easy and you won’t risk failing. Wrong. Being a leader means challenging your comfort zone. So every time there’s an opportunity to do so, take it! It’s the only way you’ll discover what you’re truly capable of. Live boldly and choose the option that involves risk. You might lose on some of them, but they’ll add excitement to your life and you’ll never regret the chances you didn’t take. As Mr. Phil says, “If your goals and dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough.”

7. Be sure to constantly compare your life to others! Morgan has better marks. Taylor has a better layup. Pat is better looking. Do you ever have those days where you’re in a great mood having fun, until suddenly someone you don’t even know walks by with great hair laughing with a cool kid wearing a great outfit? And just like that, you feel “less than”. The tendency to compare ourselves to others is human. But it steals the joy from our lives. We tend to compare the worst of ourselves to the best we assume about others. But no one is perfect and social media isn’t real - people only show what they want you to see. Concentrate on your own achievements. Create your own definition of success. Embrace your uniqueness. Practice gratitude so you recognize all the good things in your world. Compare yourself to someone only if it’s as inspiration for positive influence and growth.

8. Let other people steal from you! Let them use your time, steal your good mood and ruin your day. If you had a million dollars under your mattress, you’d check it regularly and take precautions to keep it safe. YOU are worth more than a million dollars so make sure you guard your self worth too. Avoid selfish people, egotistical people, negative people, people who won’t shut up. They’re probably not intentionally making you feel bad, and of course you’ll want to support a good friend on a bad day. But if bringing you down becomes their norm, move on to people who brighten your day and give as much as they take.

9. Don’t let go! Hold on to your grudges and never forget a wrong. A grudge is like a heavy bag of toxic waste that keeps you stuck in anger. Holding a grudge will affect both physical and mental health and can often impair your other relationships. So rather than hurting the one who did you wrong, you end up just hurting yourself. Sometimes you have to work at happiness. Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting. In fact, sometimes we’re better off cutting someone out of our lives. Forgiving can just mean you’ve accepted that it happened.

10. Don’t give back! One of the best ways to enrich your life and feel great is to immerse yourself in doing good. Volunteer. Get involved in life. It doesn’t even have to be some big, structured thing. Say a kind word. Encourage someone. Pay a visit to someone who is lonely. Get away from your self-absorption. When it comes down to it, there are two types of people in this world. There are givers and there are takers. Givers are happy. Takers are miserable. What are you?

Wise Words from Mr Phil:

“Leadership is like deodorant. It only works when you use it.”

Counselor Kevan Henshaw hosted a ‘coffee shop at his coffee shop’ at Starbucks before xmas. The night was all about Catapult and featured several Catapulters at the mic ... including 2016’s Maggie Amirault and DJ Johnson (pictured) who came all the way from Tusket and Sheet Harbour! Many more were in attendance and everyone had a blast. All the funds Kevan raised are being put towards his goal of sending a student to Catapult’17. THANK YOU Kevan !!

THE ROUND TABLE was named with Catapult’s medieval theme in mind. King Arthur insisted on having his faithful knights seated at a round table where everyone was treated equally and had an equal voice. Use your voice and send us your submissions for the next newsletter!

CONTACT INFO 902.830.5704

lori@catapultcamp.com

Kayley Dixon (’16) is very active in her North-end Dartmouth neighbourhood. Every Wednesday, she’s a volunteer leader with “The Take Action Society”, a group of kids from grade 4-6 that focus on making positive change in their community. One of the projects she’s proposing is a Community Book-Shelf. Her plan is to build mini, water-proof, enclosed book cases and fill them with donated books. They’ll be situated around the neighbourhood so people can “take one, leave one”. She’s already solicited a stack of donated books. What a great idea! Kayley’s award-winning spoken word about girls being targets of sexual violence is still making waves. She’s been invited to deliver it in Florida in March, all-expenses paid. She’s also fundraising like crazy so she can join a school trip to help build a house in Dominican Republic. Go Kayley!

Bailey Lenihan (’15) is Lockview High’s teen health rep on student council and helps run the GSA, Youth Action Team and Free Breakfast each

week. She’s also an active Girl Guide and was awarded a Certificate of Volunteer Service from the Lieutenant Governor. She now Leads a young group of guides. For the last 2 summers, she also volunteered with her local Rec Centre’s day camp program for kids. Her favourite is her role as teen health rep. She’s passionate about spreading awareness on LGBTQ+ issues. Last year, Bailey organized a bake sale that raised $110 for Laing House. “I've met lots of amazing people and it's great being in a supportive environment at school. I also enjoy working with the younger Guides because it's great to see girls learn about leadership and discover their potential.” Very impressive Bailey!

Dear Catapult Family!

The holidays are past, and we’re all back to our regular

routines. December is a time for celebration with friends

and family, but it can also be hectic and stressful! There is

often so much to do with schoolwork, volunteering,

preparing for the holidays…and we often forget to take

time to celebrate the most important person in our lives;

OURSELVES. It’s very easy to give your energy out to

others, but ask yourself…have you given yourself the pat

on the back that you deserve?

The first month of the New Year always serves as an

opportunity for a resolution, to challenge ourselves in some

aspect of our lives. Have you thought of any yet? If not,

no worries, you don’t need a specific day to challenge

yourself to grow; it’s never too late!

Here are some tips to tackling that New Year’s resolution.

• Keep it realistic: don’t bite off more than you can chew,

take baby steps!

• Make it personal: focus on something that YOU enjoy

or want to improve; no one has the right to dictate your

goals!• Write it down: seeing your own words and progress can

be extremely rewarding and motivating.

• Reward yourself: accomplished a goal? Treat yourself

for your success, you deserve it.

I wish you all the best in 2017, and as always, am excited

to hear about all your amazing accomplishments.

Until next time, ~ Michael “the Gazelle” Del Bel

A LETTER FROM COUNSELOR MIKE

Due to the work to rule mandate, Teachers may not be permitted to write reference letters for your University and scholarship applications. But we can!!!! Message Lori.

www.catapultcamp/catapulters Been there!!?

Don't forget to apply to

have Catapult Plus qualify

as your PD credit on your

high school transcript!! Lori

has the form to fill out.

Looking for community project or fundraising ideas? Look on our website in the C+ workbook!

Jan 25th!!

comm

unity

corner

Isaac Miller ’15 is planning

Catapult’s entry into the 2017

Pride Parade. Message him or

Lori if you’d like to participate!

It’s not too early to

think about applying

for the Catapult

Leadership Award

($1000 to a high

school grad). Deadline

is April 30. Details

will be posted.

CHECK THIS OUT!! It’s like a dating site, but they match you with scholarships! www.scholarshipscanada.com

Coming soon - Catapult’s

1st Tax Clinic. Learn to

do your tax return with a

Pro. Plus general tax

tips. Sponsored by Grant

Thornton. Date TBA.