Raymond Qiu and Jeffrey Li

            On October 5th, 2014, our guest speaker, Felicity Wang, gave Voice K a presentation about journalism. 

                Felicity has been a journalist for three years.  Although she works for a Chinese newspaper, she does most of her interviews in English.

                 “It is always useful to know more than one language, especially as a reporter.  You never know who you will interview, and the more languages you know, the more different cultures you can communicate with, especially in Canada ─ a multicultural country,” Felicity said. 

                Felicity started Journalism in her third year of university. She contacted her local newspaper for an internship and landed a part-time job.  After graduating, she was given the choice of staying in Toronto or going to Vancouver. Felicity decided to move to Vancouver so she could experience and learn new things.  

                Felicity has interviewed people with different statuses and backgrounds. Whether it is Prime Minister Steven Harper or homeless people, Felicity always treats every interview seriously. Before you interview someone, you need to know who they are. “You really have to be prepared mentally and physically for interviews, or else they just won’t go right.  Even if you are young, you should still be seen as a professional,” she said.

                Interviewing is difficult to do, and Felicity explained the hard part of her job.  “I find politicians the hardest to encounter.  They have all the answers, but they won’t give it to you until they trust you,” said Felicity.  “What do you do?  You just keep interviewing them, and keep challenging them.  This way, there is a higher chance they will give you an answer.” 

                Felicity warned young journalists about maintaining clean digital footprints because it directly affects their reputation and credibility. She told us that Lan Yang and Ellen DeGeneres were her role models, as they showed her the importance of perseverance and dedication.

                Besides good interview skills, good writing is also a key to the success of your article.  Therefore, I asked, “How do you improve writing articles?”  Felicity replied that she found it very challenging, and that she would usually try to look up to people with higher standards.  “I would find a person to look up to. Once I get to that level of writing, I would find more and more people to learn from.  If you just be honest and respectful to your mentors, I think they will give you your answer.”

                Felicity also said that one of the most important parts of an interview is not having preconceived opinions.  They confuse others, and often bring a bias with them. 

“When in doubt, cut it out,” said Felicity. It means to confirm something before you give it certainty.  You also have to balance your article, or your report will lack one side.  She gave us an example: “When there is a car incident, you interview the police, but also the accused.  This way, you won’t be biased, when you have the thoughts of both characters in the story.”  I thought this was a good point. 

                “You need strong headlines to attract people to read the articles.  To create a headline, you can take a quote from the story, and add it to your headlines.  “Sometimes, an inspirational quote can also give them a tingling sense,” Felicity said. 

                 After obtaining all these great insights from Felicity, I felt better and learned to handle interviews in the right way. Felicity upgraded my confidence with all the skills I learned from her. With training and more practice, we can skillfully finish more articles before the deadline.  

 

by Cynthia Sa (Age 11)

Walking past the many booths selling food and souvenirs, I let out a sigh. Nothing caught my eye, nothing made me rush over. But then I saw a booth strewn with colourful bags and ornaments. I rushed over, and saw a lady in the booth selling colourful figurines. I glanced at the pictures and businesses cards of children in Uganda, Africa. I realized this was a CHARITY FUNDRAISER. I always loved charities, how they work hard selling and raising money selflessly to help others. Some would take the money, but they donate it instead.

Children of Hope Uganda is a charity dedicated to helping unfortunate people in Uganda to be able to live life to the fullest. I was lucky enough to talk to Lorna Pitcher,  the founder and president of the charity.

“At Children of Hope Uganda, we raise money to give education and support to many youth and children that were affected in Joseph Kony’s Lord resistance army in Northern Uganda. We supply them with scholastic materials and build schools for them to learn in.” 

There were many ornaments in the booth, and they were all made by caregivers in Uganda. They used tree bark, paper, tin cans, and many recycled materials to make these beautiful ornaments. 

“I enjoy helping out at the charity, I get a good kick out of it.”, Pitcher says with a smile, ”And it’s for a good cause.” 

When I asked if she ever went to Uganda before she answered by saying, ”Yes I have. I used to be a grade 2 teacher in Uganda, but I then realized that I could do more good. So I came back to Canada, and started selling ornaments that the caregivers made to raise money so that more schools and supplies can be ordered and made, and so that more kids can go to school.”

If you want to learn more about Children of Hope Uganda, or you wish to buy some ornaments, visit: 
http://childrenofhopeuganda.org

By Tom Yang (Age 13) 

Do you have a hobby that you like? If so, would you work on your hobby for over 15 years if you had the chance? That is exactly what Glenn Mackinnon, a model train enthusiast, did. On Thursday, March 20th, 2014, I had the opportunity to meet him and interview him via Skype. He soon gave me a tour of his model train collection, which astonished me greatly. His model included villages, bridges, landmarks, and a countless number of trains. If his model was bigger, you could mistake it for an actual town! In the end of the interview, I learned a lot about trains, and I'm sure that you will too after reading this.


Glenn Mackinnon is a retired man who currently lives in Virginia, United States and once served in the military. He is an advocate for train travel, saying that “having a train drive by at 80 miles per hour (approximately 129 km per hour) is exhilarating.” His love for trains started when Mackinnon was about 4 years old. His family had a small train model which traveled around his Christmas tree. His love for trains soon grew. Mackinnon received his first model train decades and decades ago, which soon turned into a huge hobby. He started his current collection back in the year of 1998, before we had things like laptops and iPods.  Over time, his train collection grew, and it finally became presentable five years later. Since then, Mackinnon hosted an open house to invite his friends and neighbours regularly.

“Everybody loves it,” Mackinnon claimed. This is how a passion turns into a huge hobby.


I bet most of you reading this article are wondering what exactly a model train collection is. It is a showcase of various model trains on a set that may include villages, landmarks, figures, etc. Mackinnon's model included two villages, one with an American 1950's theme, and another with an European snow village theme. His set also includes a NASA launch pad, a ski hill, many figures, bridges, countless numbers of trains and railroad tracks, and even a flying Santa Claus. From the moment I saw the collection, I knew that the process of making it was not easy. I learned from Mackinnon that building the set required skills like woodworking, accuracy, and engineering. When building some models, he had to start over many times due to calculation mistakes that he made earlier. Nonetheless, he overcame the difficulties and proved that, sometimes, persistence can lead to wonderful results.


“I’ve made over a hundred friends because of his hobby, and that there are many clubs you can attend.” Mackinnon said.

Are you interested in model train building?  You could start by going to your local shop. They have a large number of models and should be experts on model train collecting. What Mackinnon did amazed me greatly, and has made me think about starting my own collection since I also have a passion for transportation systems. I hope that Mackinnon will continue to add on to his collection, so that he can amaze many more people with his collection.

Hi, my name is Amelie Zhou. I am nine years old and I am in grade four. I go to Silver Stream Public School (SSPS). My favorite color is purple and my favourite animal is the horse. My favorite series of books is "Redwall” by Brian Jacques. There is a lot of adventure inside. I also like the riddles in it. I like skiing and swimming. I have two pets. They are both fish. I might get two birds later. I have an identical twin named Michelle. She is one minute younger than me. Something special about me is that I treat some non-living things like they’re living, especially my toys. I still hang on to them, even if they’re very old.

Hello! My name is Michelle Zhou. I am currently in grade four. I go to Silver Stream Public School. I enjoy reading comics and writing short stories from the top of my brain. I have an identical twin sister named Amelie. I like doodling, skiing, making myself dizzy, and doing handstands under the water. I like experimenting with computers, but I get into trouble. The only successful pets I have now are two nine-year-old fish without names. If you were to put me into one of the categories, Girl or Tomboy, I have one half here, and one half there. I will do almost ANYTHING possible to continue sleeping in most cases. That is all you need to know about me.

*Corrections: 
Feb 20, 2014 11:21 pm - A few corrections to the article have been made to the previous version of the article. 

Hi, my name is Gratiana Chen. I am a journalist for Voice K. It is fun to write about cool activities and I really enjoy the experience. My other hobbies are skating, drawing, rip sticking and playing the clarinet. Living in Oakville is really nice. I am twelve years old and in the gifted program. My favorite color is orange and my favorite animals are orcas, koalas and tigers. Thank you for reading our magazine!

Hello there! My name is Michelle Zeng. I am twelve years old, in grade seven, and I go to the awesome Erin Centre Middle School. My hobbies are reading, writing of course, as well as watching movies. My favourite colour is spring green, my favorite animal is the cat, and I also enjoy roleplaying in fandoms such as LotR and Warrior Cats. My absolute favourite book series EVER is the Lord of the Rings - you need to read it. My favourite movie at the moment is definitely “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” but the first three movies of the Pirates of the Caribbean series follow closely after. Thanks for reading our magazine!

Dea: What inspired you to be a chef?

Shauna: When I was little, I watched my mom cooking and then I wanted my own kitchen and then I learned what a chef really does, and I thought, you know what, I want to do that. But I didn’t just want to be a chef cooking at the back of a kitchen; I wanted to be a chef that wasn’t afraid to be myself and be girly, a chef that makes people laugh, I wanted to share my joy of cooking with others and teach people how to cook within a budget.

Dea: What was your weirdest cupcake request from a customer?                

Shauna: My weirdest request was for customer who made an order for a New Years Eve party. She wanted one huge Oreo cookie with a mini cupcake on it and wanted it to resemble a clock! It was tough but it all worked out in the end and I’m told it was a great addition to her New Year’s Eve party.

Dea: What is your best-selling cupcake?                  

Shauna: My best seller? It’s the red velvet. Everyone likes red velvet……with cream cheese frosting. It’s actually my least favourite.

Dea: Do you have your own bakery?

Shauna: I don’t have my own bakery, all the cupcakes are homemade, and that’s why they are so good. Everyone likes a good homemade cupcake, that’s what makes it special compare to cake. You grab one, it is just for you.


Dea: Are you popular?          

Shauna: Popular? Well I wouldn’t say I’m popular yet.  But I’d like to be very popular someday … may be after this interview!                                                               

By Regina Hay   Illustration by Michelle Song


When Belle Holmes was in 6th grade in Japan, she was asked to write about her dream. Her dream was “to be a flight attendant and see the world.”

Her dream didn’t come true until she moved to California years later. Belle was kind enough to take time out and tell me about the 12 exciting years she has
been working for United Airlines.

When asked why she liked being a flight attendant, Belle said she enjoys seeing different kinds of countries around the world and meeting new people. Once, Belle met a family with two kids named Benjamin and Hannah on a flight from New York to Tokyo. Belle invited the kids to help her with her job so that they wouldn’t
get bored during the flight. Later Benjamin wrote Belle a letter thanking her for being so nice. Many years later, Belle’s daughter ended up going to school with Hannah. Hannah remembered Belle and says she wants to become a flight attendant because of Belle!

As for what she didn’t like, Belle says, “I don’t like it when my customers yell at me for things that aren’t under my control.” She also doesn’t like the jet lag from international flights.

In order to prepare for her job, Belle had to take emergency training and kitchen training for each type of aircraft she worked on. She also had to learn all the products the airline offers, like different kinds of wine and food. She trained for two and a half months and took four training flights.

Flight attendants need to have training in case of emergencies, in case something goes wrong on a flight. But sometimes they just need to be lucky. It turns out that Belle is very lucky because she was supposed to be on a September 11, 2001 flight, but was then sent on a different trip, thank goodness!

Belle’s advice for aspiring flight attendants is, “stay healthy, because flying can be hard on your body. Study which airline you want to work for, so that you have an idea of what you will be paid and you will know if
it will be around for a long time. And finally, stay positive because you will like your job a lot more!”

I think that is good advice for any job.