There’s no question that kids get asked more than “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Most kids would say something like a doctor, or a policeman. However, as we grow up, so does our view on our future job. For example, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a vet. I had no interest in the actual job, I just though that animals were cute. The same is true for many kids, and even teenagers. That’s why, in our latest project “Mentor for a Day, Lessons for Life,” we took a deep dive into what those professions we might be interested in really look like beneath the surface. Come with me as I explore a career that I’m interested in: Accounting.

First of all, what is accounting? Well, accounting is a job requires adapting to changing financial regulations, managing complicated financial systems, and analyzing data to make decisions acrosss various industries. Basically, they work with numbers, and money, to help keep companies afloat. Everyone has a different purpose for finding a job. For me, I’m motivated by money. I love the idea of being able to have a flexible job, while making enough money to live comfortably.

The main component of this project was that we found an adult who currently works in a profession that we are interested in, and shadow them for a day. This ended up being a little bit difficult for some of the student in my class that were interested in more specific careers, but there happen to be a fair number of of accountants in Vancouver. I ended up deciding that I would shadow Wendy Kennedy, who has decades of experience in the field. 

Before our job shadow day, we were tasked with creating a smart brevity note with details about the career we were shadowing. This included income, some good ways to get into that field, and general background information. For those who don’t know, smart brevity is a form of writing that aims to shorten the content, and make it quick and easy to read. This process was very helpful for me, as I’m currently trying to perfect smart brevity. I still find it difficult to fit an entire paragraph into about ten words total, but being forced to practice is one of the best ways to succeed in something. Click here if you want to check out what the document looks like.

The final portion of this project was an audio reflection. In it, we were to interview the person we were shadowing, provide insight on what we learned about the profession we were interested in, and have some kind of cool background music. All of these were things that we had done before, but I definitely faced certain challenges in this part of the process. First, I had been very sick for much of the time that we were supposed to spend recording for our reflection. This made it hard for me to get any recording done, as my voice was barely recognizable. Secondly, I’ll admit that I’m not too great at using garage band. Still, like I said, the best way to learn is through trial and error. After many technical issues, and a lot of editing and adjustments, I was finally finished my reflection. What a journey! Here’s my audio reflection:

To conclude, this project aimed to give us real world experience into what a day in the life of someone in the professional world looks like. Many people would find accounting boring, but hearing my mentor talk about her experiences actually made me even more interested in the job. I hope that you’ve been able to understand what accounting looks like through my eyes. Thank you for reading, and have a great day!

I’m sure you’re familiar with the classic story of Romeo and Juliet. Two star crossed lovers meet their demise due to their family feud, which has raged for decades. Despite being over five hundred years old, the Shakespeare play is still incredibly relevant to modern media. Come with me in this blog post as we dive into the messages and true meanings behind Rome and Juliet.

In our project, we had to recreate the classic story with a twist: it’s set in modern day North Vancouver. We started off by trying to figure out the true meanings behind the story, so that we could better adapt it for our production. We started to read the full play, by comparing it to the translated version. This was incredibly helpful, as I don’t know anyone who speaks Shakespearean English. We started by reading the first act, which is all about how Romeo and Juliet meet. As such, we were introduced to the diverse cast of characters. A huge part of this project was about understanding what roles the characters played within the play, so we could accurately portray what they would be like in a modern adaptation. I found myself struggling to understand the characters at first, because I was so unfamiliar with the kind of character dynamics presented. However, after doing some research, and rereading the play many times, I found a lot of deeper meanings hidden within the charscter’s actions.

After getting about halfway through the play, we watched two film adaptations: the more traditional adaptation, featuring Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, and a more modern version, with Leonardo Dicaprio. The two films were very different from one another, especially considering they were created in different decades. Despite the obvious differences, such as Romeo’s friends driving a car, or Mercutio being a drag queen, the more recent film had many key character differences that made it more clear what was going on for a modern audience. Everyone in the class took clear notice of this difference, and we tried our best to incorporate this change into our own play.

After we had watched the movies, we moved onto the rest of the play. After a few interesting plot twists, we finished it, and got onto our adaptation. We were split into five different groups, each in charge of one act. This made continuity difficult, as communication between groups ended up being more difficult then we thought it would be. My group was assigned act three, in which Romeo and Mercutio have their big showdown with Tybalt. Having this act was difficult for a few reasons: one, sword fights aren’t really a big thing in Vancouver. Two, how often do teenagers violently kill one another in deep cove? We had to come up with some creative fixes to this issue, such as Mercutio falling down a flight of stairs. We also found some issues with the promise rings, as we found out the day of the play that another group had decided to write part of our script into their act, because it “made more sense.” We found a way around this problem, but the play still caused everyone involved a ton of stress. Click here Click here to view our final script.

Despite being a bit last minute, and perhaps a little brainrotted, we ended up with what was a decently funny performance. I thought that everyone’s script was funny, and I enjoyed putting on the play. I had to play both the Nurse, and Benvolio, so the costume changes were a little bit hectic. All in all, I’m proud of what we were able to present. I learned a lot about taking charge -I was my groups DRI- and putting in the work, but it was a small price to pay to have a completed act. Thank you for reading, and have a great day!