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Interview with Felicity Wang - insights from a working journalist

10/24/2014

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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.  

 

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Children of Hope Uganda Charity

10/6/2014

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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

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Interview with Celebrity Voice Actor,Sunday Muse

7/13/2014

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On July 10th, Voice K had the opportunity to interview celebrity voice actor -- Sunday Muse. 
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Interview with Glenn Mackinnon: A man who built model trains for over 15 years

4/29/2014

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PictureOverview of Glenn MacKinnon's Model Train Show Room
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.



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Hi, I’m Tom Yang, and I go to Hazel McCallion Senior Public School in Mississauga, Ontario. I am 13 years old, and I am in grade 8. Before I officially joined Voice K as a journalist, I was in their summer camp program. I soon became interested in the program and joined. I prefer to write freestyle, because I could write about my opinion more. One of my favourite things to do is to travel. I hope that I could go to the magnificent countries such as England and France one day. Ask me anything about Pokemon, and I could answer them easily most of the time. Enjoy the article!  


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Interview with Dr. Mary Jane Conboy from AstraZeneca Human Edge at the Ontario Science Centre

3/3/2014

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By Amelie Zhou (Age 9) and Michelle Zhou (Age 9)
图片Amelie and Michelle with Dr. Jane Conboy
On Friday the Feb 7th, 2014, my sister and I had the opportunity to explore the Ontario Science Centre’s new exhibition, the AstraZeneca Human Edge. We also had a chance to interview the exhibition’s director; Dr. Mary Jane Conboy. 


Andrea Mus, the Media Relations Officer, welcomed us and brought us to Dr. Conboy. We interviewed them first before they took us on a tour on the AstraZeneca Human Edge exhibition.

 “There were a couple of things that helped The AstraZeneca Human Edge exhibition start,” Dr. Conboy said. “There was a sports exhibit that people loved, and a human body exhibit upstairs. They were both pretty worn out, so we decided to combine them together into one new exhibition that talked about the human body and what happens when you push past the limits of your body. We have a compelling story line; we tried to get inspiring people with fascinating stories.”

Dr. Conboy had to work with over 100 experts, ranging from dancers, scientists, free-divers, to researchers. They collaborated with anyone that had stories to share. 

We were curious about which part of the exhibition took up the most time. “I think the part that takes the most time up is the one that connects everything, the planning, we have names to rally around, we brainstorm, and draw sketches, we have wood/metal/finishing shops, and electricians,” said Dr. Conboy.

When we asked about the challenges Dr. Conboy has faced when building the exhibition, she said “I think one of the hardest challenge is blocking up fluids. We have tanks for zebra fish, and we are trying not to let the water leak out. The biggest challenge I think is actually just the time; we have to do as much as possible and squeeze everything into that bit of time.”

We wanted to know if the staff was planning on making the exhibition better. “So far, there aren’t any changes we want to make,” answered Dr. Conboy. “We do evaluation, see if our visitors are doing what we expected them to do, using the exhibits the way we wanted them to use it.”

Voice K Journalists at Ontario Science CentreAmelie and Michelle at the exhibition entrance
After the interview, Andrea and Dr. Conboy invited us on a tour of the exhibition.

 When we went in the exhibition hall, we saw some interesting exhibits that looked like two ribs, which were to the left of the entrance, and one water-drop, to the right. We all thought that was creative architecture, because the shapes matched the exhibition's topic.

Andrea and Dr. Conboy led us into the giant water-drop-shaped room. This exhibition was called Single Breath. As you may have guessed, this exhibition was about holding your breath. It was inspired by a free-diver named Mandy-Rae­­ Krack from Vancouver. Visitors would experience descending down to 88 metres in one breath, which was the women’s world-record.


There were four seats in the room. The colour of the walls and a "film" of water surfaces above you made it seem like the real thing. The main idea was to listen to the record of Many-Rae Krack explaining what it was like free-diving. The timers started when the voice of Krack announced that she had plunged into the water. You can try to hold your breath, while watching the timers. This enabled you to compare your results with Krack’s 2 minutes 48 seconds. Our record was 1 minute 25 seconds. Our lungs were about to blow up.

We visited the Decision Maze next. It gave you an idea of how life was like climbing Mt. Everest, and how sometimes your seemingly simple decisions mattered between life and death. You should try your best because sometimes, one little comfort can increase the risk of losing greatly. At the end, there was an example of a test for mountain climbers to see if their brains functioned properly after the climb. It felt like it was for kindergarteners, though it will be much harder when you just come down from Mt. Everest.

 Beside the Decision Maze, there was the Climbing Wall. There were randomly shaped rocks here and there, along with two strips of rock that looked freshly mined, and some fake snow. The trick was to climb horizontally, which was a lot trickier than you think when you just see it. It was designed like that. In real situations, you'd have rope for protection.

 The exhibit behind the Single Breath was called What's for Dinner. This one was like an electronic game. After you typed in info about yourself, and you would start choosing a meal. Then, it would tell you how much calories you should consume daily and how much calories in the dinner you chose. For example, someone like my sister and I (female, 52 lbs 9 years old, and 125 cm in height, not pregnant, nor nursing) needs to consume 1722 calories daily. Guess how much calories was in the dinner we picked? We picked 101% of the 1722 calories. Then we did it again and picked as many of my favourite foods as allowed, the result we received is: “Do you always eat like it is the end of the world?”

Beside the game was a little wooden board. It said: If you eat a large popcorn with topping and one medium soda, to burn that energy, an 80 kg person must walk for 6 hours 17 minutes, jog 2 hours 21 minutes, bicycle 4 hours 43 minutes, or do office work for 12 hours 34 minutes. Andrea said, “After reading this, I vowed I would never ever eat popcorn or soda again.”


Human Edge Exhibit at Science Center
Human Edge Exhibit at Science Center
Human Edge
Human Edge Exhibit
Standing on Glass Floor Glass floor exhibition
Glass Floor is another surprise which demonstrated how your amygdala* works. You walk across three panels of glass...and the moment you step on the second panel, it will light up, showing a seemingly bottomless hole. Many would be scared and act like they are falling off, because their amygdalae tell them, "Ah! You're in danger! Get off this tunnel!" People think they will fall, because they don’t really have time to think whether there is or there isn’t a deep hole. Once they see it, they will try to react. Of course, no one will really fall, because it is merely an optical illusion, created by using 2 mirrors.

There were many other exhibitions, explaining how genes worked, what pregnancy was like, what you may look like in the future. Also, you could see who could pump liquid faster up to a certain amount, you or your heart. It was possible to win, but you’d be exhausted afterwards.

This exhibition is very different from the other exhibitions at the science centre. It is a great opportunity to learn about the human body. Try it out! If you visit, a great experience is guaranteed!


Tips:*The amygdala is an almond-shaped set of neurons located deep in the brain’s medial temporal lobe. It plays a key role in the processing of emotions.

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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.

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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.

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Interview with Oakville Mayor - Rob Burton

2/19/2014

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Young journalist (from left) Michelle Zeng, Gratiana Chen  and Editor-in-Chief Joanna Liu taking a photo with  Oakville Mayor, Rob Burton.Voice K Journalists taking a picture with Mayor Rob Burton
“Oakville is a city that calls itself a town and feels like a village” are the words Mayor Rob Burton always says to newcomers once they enter the community. And these were the same words he repeated to us when we went to interview him on February the 9th, 2014, for a Chinese New Year event. Mr. Burton was kind enough to lend us his time for an interview, and we asked him many questions regarding his life, how he came to be mayor and what future plans he may have for Oakville’s budding future.

We found out that Mr. Burton had always wanted to become a police officer as a child, as he loved helping others and wanted to protect people in need. In fact, the thought of ever becoming a political leader had never crossed his mind. What had gotten Mr. Burton into politics in the first place, then? It turns out that the beginning of his consideration of running for mayor arose around fifteen years ago, when he and a couple of friends decided that the environmental lands 
north of Highway 5 and below the 407 needed to be better taken care of. Mr. Burton convinced his friend to run, telling him that only one good person is needed to convince the City Council to make changes. However, when his friend didn’t manage to make the change on his own. He returned to Mr. Burton and urged him to lend a hand and run for mayor. And so, Burton ran and soon afterwards became the mayor of Oakville.











How has Burton’s life changed ever since becoming mayor? Well, he is evidently far busier than he was before, and now has far less personal ‘me’ time. "Being mayor is a 24/7/365 job," Mr. Burton says. Mi casa es tu casa is a Spanish proverb that translates into “my house is your house”, a typical welcome greeting. In the mayor’s case, however, the saying goes, “my time is your time”. His wife enjoys joking about his full schedule, “I’m so glad you won; I wanted you to get out more.” Burton quotes his spouse.

When Mr. Burton is not busy being mayor, he enjoys going on car trips with his family to see the many different places in Ontario. He calls these short breaks the “relaxation tours.”

Mr. Burton has brought many changes since he became the mayor of Oakville; one of the main changes being the updates in the environmental areas of Oakville. Natural parks and the like are now highly protected and well-maintained in an effort to keep a bright, clean community. According to Mr. Burton, as “One of my favorite things about Oakville is the nature.” He hopes and expects to see Oakville as a cleaner, greener city in the future.

We were also curious who would be a role model to Mr. Burton. According to him, Barack Obama was a huge inspiration. “I have a picture of President Obama; it’s hanging up on my office wall,” quips Mr. Burton.

The mayor himself is also considered a great role model in the eyes of many young and aspiring environmentalist.  At the end of the interview, he gave an excellent advice for children, “Life does not require perfect, but it really likes hard work.”

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

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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!

Want to be part of the magazine? Check out our journalism program!
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Interview with Culinary Artist Shauna Sincerely

2/26/2013

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By Dea Yu
On February 12th, 2013 at the office of Voice K magazine Shauna Morgan of Shauna Sincerely catering joined some the junior editors in a cupcake baking event to be remembered. During the hands on event Dea Yu was able steal some one on one time with Shauna and asked some questions…

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!                                                               

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Our Cupcake Experience  
Read Sunni's article on how to make cupcakes!
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An Interview with Eileen Schuh –Author of The Traz

11/26/2012

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Eileen Schuh is a passionate writer who achieved her dream of becoming a novelist. Although she has been writing all her life, Schuh become a dedicated full-time novelist seven years ago. From a young age, she enjoyed writing on her free time, whether it was poems or stories. She loves crime-fiction, and is a fan of the True Crime series. That’s why Schuh worked hard and published her first book, The Traz, which is a crime-fiction. The Traz also happens to be her favourite work.

 “It is my heart book, one that I was emotionally involved with.” She says her sci-fi novels are among her favourites, but does not give the same social impact as The Traz. 

Voice K had the opportunity to ask Schuh some questions about her book, and her life as a writer:

Voice K: What inspired you to write The Traz?
Schuh: I wanted to write something that with a social impact. It upsets me when I hear about accidents on the news involving teens, especially if it could’ve been prevented so I wanted to create awareness to young people that making right choices and actions are important. The Traz contains messages about drugs, grief and family.


Voice K:  What is your favourite part of the book?
Schuh: That is a tough question, but if I had to choose, it would be the beginning. It delivers a strong and powerful base for the rest of the story. The part is not very long, but is critically important to the plot.


Voice K:  Can you explain the process of creating this book?
Schuh: Of course. The Traz wasn’t initially intended to be published, but it was in the end. Writing the book itself was fairly quick. I felt it was dictated to me. Publishing it took much longer--about three to four years. I had to do research on various topics, sent my work to various people and editors for their opinions. I even volunteered in a RCMP workshop to learn how to write a crime mystery. It wasn’t easy to become a published author. I had to rewrite some parts many times to get it right, and I always had to make sure the plot was real and made sense. 
While writing The Traz, I had to take on many other part time jobs to support myself.


Voice K:  Can you give us some hints of what will happen in the next book?
Schuh: In the next book, all the characters will face the consequences of their actions from The Traz and their experiences in the past, present and future will also affect their choices. The protagonist, Katrina, will have to deal with her role in witnessing a murder, recover from trauma, and ultimately, start living her life as a teen. Forgiveness is also a big issue in the book. The gang is entangled in a big mess, on the brink of everything getting out of hand. However, it is not going to be the last book, in fact I even drafted to the point of Katrina becoming a grandmother!  
 
Voice K:  What does writing mean to you?
Schuh: Writing was always like a calling, something I was meant to do. I want to make a difference, an impact with my writing. I live to write, and write to live.


Voice K:  What advice do you have for all the young writers out there?
Schuh: I really encourage them to become writers, and really, it’s about the passion. I think joining writing groups such as Voice K is excellent. Be sure to look at all possible writing careers, since you don’t have to be a novelist to write. Also, reading will help improve your writing. For me, I took journalism for many years while planning out my stories. Keep writing, and have fun!
Check out our journalist's book review on Traz
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My Interview with Belle Holmes -  United Airlines Flight Attendant

9/1/2012

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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.

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Get Animated

4/1/2012

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By: Michelle Zeng and Sunni Zhou

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) presents “Get Animated” to give kids the chance to learn how to animate. “Get Animated” was really popular. Over 30 kids attended the programon October 30, 2011.

The program invited guest speaker, Co Hoedeman, known for his Oscar award winning film the “Sandcastle”. He was there to demonstrate his animation techniques and also to teach kids how to animate.

The kids made their own animated videos. Hoedeman divided 30 kids into groups. Each group made one animated video and the characters to go along with it. The characters for the videos had to be made in a special way in order for the video to be more interesting. For example, to make a person, the artist would have
to draw a head, cut it out, draw the face, cut it out, and then do the same for the rest of the body. The animated characters were made like this so each body part can move and make facial expressions.

One second in an animated film will need 24 pictures. Since there was only an hour for the kids to create the characters and the videos, all the videos were fairly short.

Despite all the work involving creating animations, Hoedeman said, “Creating animations is simple.”

Perhaps that’s why so many people attended “Get Animated.”

Voice K had a chance to sit down with Hoedeman:

Voice K: Is it hard to make animated videos?
Hoedeman: No, actually it is very simple.
Voice K: Roughly how many videos have you made so far?
Hoedeman: So far, I have made 23 films. They are all animated films. All of my videos are for children.
Voice K: How do you get ideas for your videos?
Hoedeman: All the videos I have made are based on what I have seen and experienced.
Voice K: Which video of yours got an award?
Hoedeman: Many of the videos I made have gotten an award. One of my videos, “The Sandcastle,” received an Oscar Award in 1978, which was a long time ago.
Voice K:  What materials did you use to make your videos?
Hoedeman: I didn’t always use paper. For “The Sandcastle”, I used puppets made of sand.
Voice K: What was your favourite part of today?
Hoedeman: My favourite part of today was helping the children to get ideas. I really like how the children made the artwork.

Hoedeman was not the only person who was enthusiastic about “Get Animated!” Many other people gave “Get Animated” a thumb up. One participant, Kyle said, “It was very good.” Others agreed, including Glenda and her daughter, who said that “‘Get Animated’ was great! In fact, we had been to NFB art programs over 10 times,
we would love to come again.”
Later, Voice K had a chance to interview Jessie Curell, who works for NFB to organize
the program. “I was inspired by Mr. Hoedeman because it’s a rare opportunity
to work with him and learn from him,” said Jessie when asked what inspired him to
organize the event.
We really enjoyed the program, so why don’t you “Get Animated”?For more information about this program, visit www.nfb.ca/getanimated. 
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