For those of you unfamiliar with Junior Achievement, it is an international non-profit organization dedicated to educating young people about business and economics, and inspiring them to undertake their own entrepreneurial ventures.  Volunteers become involved by teaching classes, from grades 3 to 12, about various business topics which play an integral role in helping these students make the right choices for their future.

The Hall of Fame Awards are given annually to “recognize individuals whose innovative approach towards business excellence and community service, shine as an inspiring example for all young Albertans.  These laureates represent outstanding achievement in free enterprise, coupled with community service.”

Honoured recipients, Audrey Luft and the Ghermezian Family were inducted into the JA Business Hall of Fame and joined a long list of distinguished inductees including Dr. Charles Allard, Linda Hughes, and Ross Grieve.

Overall, the event was a phenomenal success from the minute you stepped inside the Shaw and were escorted to your table, right through to the closing remarks.  Aside from the guest list which featured the upper echelon of the Edmonton business community, the evening was packed with highlights including a musical performance by members of a JA sponsored school, an acknowledgement by the Honorable, Mayor Stephen Mandel, and speeches by several high school students who had started their own business through the JA High School Program.

As the founding organization of the Junior Achievement Northern Alberta & NWT chapter, JCI believes passionately in the mission of JA and continues to lend support by sponsoring a JA elementary – St Alphonsus – as well as providing funding to help further this excellent cause.  Many JCI members volunteer with JA, teaching either at St Alphonsus or at a sponsored school of their choice.  I am in the midst of teaching a grade 6 class at St Alphonsus and I cannot believe how bright, enthusiastic, and eager to learn the students are!  I look forward to it every week and truly believe that I learn as much from a room of grade 6 students as they learn from me.

We are already looking forward to next year’s Hall of Fame Awards and discussing how our organizations can help each other in the interim.  For more information on Junior Achievement, or to volunteer, please visit their website at: www.juniorachievement.ca

I encourage you to take advantage of a great opportunity to give back to the community and help shape the lives of our future leaders.

See you in the classroom!

Dave Brown

Director of Corporate Development

JCI Edmonton

“JCI Membership is a R.A.R.E. Opportunity” talked about the value we are giving to our members. How to welcome members, keep them and how to eventually say goodbye.

I have lunch with the JCI Canada President, J.P. and B.S, then we all move to chat with the Belgians by Stephanie the physiotherapist from JCI Networking. After lunch I head back to my hotel, the plan is that we will all meet at the hotel pool in an hour or so.

J.P., B.S. and I had an amazing time with Belgians, though B.S. and I were at a disadvantage not speaking any dutch. We sat around making plans for our reunion during World Congress. Eventually we disbursed reluctantly to prepare for closing ceremonies.

The Canadians

I went to my room and made myself all pretty but ended up walking to the World Trade Centre in my high heel shoes. I was sitting with two national presidents, two senators and their guests . After dinner there was dancing and a lot of pictures. It was after 2AM by the time I left the World Trade Centre and my bus was going to be at the hotel at 5AM to take me to the airport.

This adventure was over and yet it seemed like a new chapter was just beginning!

On the bright side I’m not uncomfortably hot and I’m up to my 6th mosquito bite so I’m not reacting as harshly to them anymore. I sat pondering what my next steps would be once I got home. Just when I thought maybe taking a nap until lunch was a viable option I was invited to go to a french workshop “La Potion Magique de l’Engagement” by one of the girls from Guadeloupe from the night before. I really was adopted! It was about member engagement and how to combat negativity in a group . I had to concentrate very very hard to follow the course, but it was really good.

After I had lunch with my new french speaking friends and went to an English workshop called “Give My People What They Need”. I really enjoyed it, it was about how depending on your experience with a task or organization you need different things from your leadership.

The evening was so fun Curacao Night. There were local liquors, you could pay to have your picture taken in traditional costume. I drank my fill of tamarind juice, ate plantain and some other unknown Caribbean fare. They had traditional dances, live music, and carnival performers it was a great spectacle. It reminded me of the Edmonton Cariwest Festival. Just a shame that they were forced to move the festivities inside because of the rain.

They have a JCI store set up how exciting. I tell myself that I will come back and take a look later. My new American friend B.S. is there and has a “first timer” ribbon attached to his name tag. He tells me that he also slept in but has “connections”. We laugh as I complain that it’s not fair. He asks which course I’m taking and I tell him I don’t know. He explains that JCI Training must be registered for ahead of time (I remember A.K. mentioning that yesterday at lunch). B.S. ushers me into the JCI course he is taking and introduces me to Patrick Knight (I remember A.K. telling me about him too). As we wait for the class to start we are approached by this young woman smiling brightly. J.P. is from Holland and the three of us become almost instant friends. JCI Networking is an AWESOME course! I think I will always remember Stephanie is a physiotherapist, Nicolas is a pharmacist and Christian a Computer engineer.

The three of us go for lunch together and J.P. is telling us about her early childhood in Curacao, Studying in Australia and living in Holland. She is so amazing she speaks Dutch, English, Curacao Conference of the Papiamentu, and Spanish. J.P. and B.S. convince me to go to the JCI workshop “Positive Seduction” with Patrick Knight I really wanted to go to a different workshop because I was going to be taking “Positive Seduction” in Vancouver the following weekend. Peer pressure prevails… AMAZING workshop!

After the class I borrow Patrick’s computer to register for the course I took that morning. While Patrick shares the story of what happened to him November 2009. He is a very amazing person. You can tell that he IS a positive person and it’s not just lip service. I feel like crying but I’m also so happy that he’s getting married soon.

I walk back to my hotel for a dinner of Safeway Ramen Noodles and Duty-Free Canadian Red Wine. I prepare for nations night putting on the JCI guayabera shirt I bought earlier, packing my MEC bag with Canadian pins and stickers. I tie my HBC Canada Hoodie around my waist and make sure I have enough money to give to the JCI Canada President if he has my t-shirt.

The bus takes us to a court yard that probably usually is home to a market. The various countries have set up booths with local drinks, food and tourist information. Many of the Jaycees are dressed up in either t-shirts advertising where they are from or their national dress. I start giving out Canada flag pins.

I spot B.S. and J.P. who promptly give me a hard time about being the only Canadian and there not being a Canadian booth. We then have a big debate over what the Canadian National dress would be and what would be served. Bacon? Wine? Maple syrup? B.S. goes to help with the American Booth serving Jack Daniels.

The evening reminded me of Edmonton’s Heritage Festival, with all the performances and food sampling. Except that JCI Nations Night is free and has A TON OF ALCOHOL! I wander off watching the Jaycees performing a traditional dance on the stage.

B.S. taps me on the shoulder and says “look who I found”. IT’S THE JCI CANADA PRESIDENT!!! I’m so happy that I give him a hug though it’s probably only the second time I’ve met him. We catch up and he tells me about all the meetings he’s been attending and how his suitcase was lost on his was here from Kelowna. He tells me that he’s been seeing a lot of Canadian pins on people and that I was doing a great job. He introduces me to a few other National presidents. Tells me that he hopes to run Omoiyari training in Canada.

On the way home I pin some more people with a little piece of Canada. They are from Guadeloupe and when they find out that I am the only Canadian (besides the National President) they adopt me. I go to bed that night so happy that I made this trip.

Oh wait some JCI people just come out of the elevator, maybe I didn’t sleep in after all. The 2011 JCI World President is now in the lobby, I wish I could meet him but he seems constantly surrounded by an entourage.

I take a deep breath and approach some JCI people standing in the lobby. They are both supper friendly they speak Spanish but make an effort to speak to me in English which I greatly appreciate while I silently cure myself for being too infatuated with a boy to pay attention to my Spanish classes last year. The gentleman excuses himself and now the woman gives me her full attention. She’s the JCI national president of Peru and when the JCI national president of Haiti arrives she introduces me. After learning I’m from Canada he inquires if I speak French. I tell him “un peu”. After a few minutes more we decided not to wait for a shuttle and walk to the World Trade Centre.

Goodness the World Trade Centre is no more than a 10 minute walk from the hotel. Once inside I head to the registration table, get my package. Now what? It’s only 10 AM and I learn that the tours of Curacao scheduled for today have been canceled. I sign up for 2 tours and try to convince the group of men behind me to do the same.

One of them does, he’s from JCI Spain but originally from Germany. After talking about the lack of planned activities for the day he suggests that we head into town together and maybe do some shopping. Being a girl of course I thought it was a brilliant idea.

Willemstead is beautiful there’s a long bridge crossing the bay that people walk across. We walk from Henry Johnston Hotel make a quick pit stop and walk across the bridge taking pedestrians across the bay from one “quarter” to another. I’m told by A.K. that the bridge swings open from one end, letting the ships sail through like sheep through a large farm gate.

It’s a fantastic morning; lots of sun, conversation, sightseeing and shopping. As it approaches noon it becomes uncomfortably hot for my Canadian sensibilities, luckily there were strategically placed umbrellas in front of a pub and we were able to stop for food and beer. We eventually headed back towards the bridge where I saw it open for the first time.

Then we went to Fort Nassau I didn’t want to move at that point. I really enjoyed the stillness in the shade of the courtyard on a bench, there was a nice cool breeze blowing through the stone structure obviously very well designed 18th century fort. My cohort is a little concerned he says I’ve gotten quiet. I’m tired I realize maybe I’ve been out in the sun too long today.

I decide instead of paying 12 USD to go back to my hotel I’d try to kill some time and take the shuttle. We go looking for the bus 2 hours later and end up back at the Howard Johnson. We run into some Brazilians and an American all waiting for the bus. It occurs to me I’m the only one not dressed for opening ceremonies yet and I suddenly regret not going home to get ready. We chat about the next area conference being held in Brazil, take photographs and the American teases me about being Canadian.

Eventually the bus arrives and the men who where in their suites are relieved as the day had yet to cool. I on the other hand am freezing; the American offers me his suit jacket and teases me about being a cold in the Dutch Caribbean and being from Canada.

We arrive at the World Trade Centre and I quickly walk to the hotel and back. I feel a little under-dressed; the Brazilians are wearing these sexy little black dresses and accessories that match their national colours. The even starts and the room is filled with nationalistic pride, delegation clapping, cheering and waving flags as their national presidents parade across the main stage. The Brazilians even have flag confetti! I admit I’m both in awe and jealous, I’m a delegation of one and I didn’t even bring a flag, never the less I stand up as the JCI Canada National President is called to the stage.

The speeches are electrifying, the Prime Minister of Curacao talks to us about impact and positive change and how he is the youngest Prime Minister in his country’s history at 36 years old! The speeches and various performances wrap up and the Conference is declared open.

A carnival group comes in the room in their “mass costumes” and we dance all the way out the backdoor into the beautifully decorated garden. The Belgians have brought “Stella” to the party one of my favorites. Everyone is dancing and enjoying themselves… well almost everyone. I’m exhausted, too much sun or maybe my long day of travel caught up with me. I still can’t find the JCI Canada National President and it’s making me a little anxious.

I leave the party a little after midnight, very early I need to be up for the “First Timers” meeting in the morning.

Edmonton, December 17, 2010 – Christmas will come early for over 220 low-income Edmonton families this year when members of JCI Edmonton deliver customized hampers brimming with food, gifts and supplies on Saturday, December 18, 2010.

This is an annual activity for JCI Edmonton, having delivered over 600 hampers in the past 6 years. JCI Edmonton members and friends will “adopt” a family that has been identified as being in need by inner-city schools and then compile a special hamper for their family.

Each hamper includes ingredients for a holiday meal as well as many extra items to carry through the winter months, such as jars of peanut butter, tubs of margarine, coffee, juice, and pasta. Gifts for each member of the family as well as additional supplies such as soaps and shampoos are included as well. Typically, each hamper consists of several boxes and bins for each family.

On Saturday, December 18, 2010 between 11 am and 1 pm, JCI Edmonton members will meet in the gymnasium of Mother Teresa Elementary School to pick up the address of their adopted family, a frozen turkey and roasting pan (provided by JCI Edmonton) and enjoy a cup of hot cocoa with fellow members before heading out to deliver their hamper. There is a very special holiday spirit at this gathering.

Each member will then deliver their hamper to their adopted family. The meeting is usually brief, but very gratifying for both parties involved. The Christmas Hamper project is a highlight of the year for the local chapter and this project has been recognized nationally by JCI Canada as an outstanding initiative.

JCI Edmonton (www.jciedmonton.com), also known as the Jaycees, has been a part of the Edmonton community for 80 years. JCI Edmonton is one of over thirty JCI Canada chapters (www.jcicanada.com) and is affiliated with Junior Chamber International (JCI) (www.jci.cc), a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs. JCI is comprised of over 200,000 members contributing to advancement of the global community by creating positive change in over 6,000 communities in more than 110 nations worldwide.

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What: JCI Edmonton Christmas Hamper Delivery 2010
Where: Mother Teresa Elementary School Gymnasium 9008 – 105A Avenue
When: Saturday December 118, 2010 between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm

For more information, please contact:
Jamey Hawtin, Project Chairman
JCI Edmonton
e-mail: vp2@jciedmonton.com
phone: (780) 993-3483

“We are so proud of our Canadian delegates and how well they did in competition, says incoming JCI National President, Paul Clissold (from Kelowna, BC). “They represented Canada very well and showed the world that Canada produces excellent citizens and excellent debate competitors. Congratulations to both teams.”

The English team, composed of Jillian Walker (Executive Vice President for JCI Calgary), Hassan Halepota (JCI Calgary), Lara Tierney (JCI Calgary) and Stefan Cherwoniak (JCI Edmonton) beat out Australia in the first round. They went up against tough competitors, JCI Norway, in the final round and won the event.

The French team, Viviane Lyrette, Mélanie Raymond, Marie-Eve Goulet and team captain Éric Brideau (all from JCI Quebec) fared just as well in the French Debate Competition bringing home the first place award.

The JCI International Debate Competition takes place annually wherever the JCI World Congress is hosted. Throughout the year, JCI members learn debating skills to help them compete, but also equip members to resolve conflicts, respect differences and overcome obstacles. Capacity-building events like this build a foundation of teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving that members use to address
issues in their local communities.

JCI stands for Junior Chamber International and is a worldwide leadership organization open to individuals 18 to 40. JCI offers their members four specific areas of opportunity: individual, business, community and international development. These areas help individuals better themselves through social responsibility, entrepreneurship, leadership and fellowship.

About JCI Edmonton
JCI Edmonton is a local chapter of Junior Chamber International (JCI), a worldwide federation of more than 200,000 young leaders and entrepreneurs. JCI chapters are found within 5,000 communities and 100 nations worldwide.

Founded in 1929 as the Edmonton Jaycees, JCI Edmonton is the 2nd largest chapter in Canada with 150 members. JCI Edmonton is a membership-based nonprofit organization with the aim to better the business community.

Today was a super long but super awsome day!

It all started bright and early at 9am with the Morning Show featuring Per Stilling. I was a bit aghast when I saw Per take the stage because the day prior he was the captain of the Norwegian debating team, for which we competed against in the final – yikes. 

After the morning show I participated in the General assembly with fellow delgates Paul, because Jean-Simone and Patrick both were receiving pins for their donations to the JCI foundation. After lunch I went with Brian our current National President and his wife to go search out some Japanese chef knives. I told him the story of me buying mine in Tokyo last time I was there, so he/we were on a mission to find some for his own use. We traveled by train to the district where we would find such things – and with our luck found an entire store dedicated to this once-samurai art.

After our excursion out it was a race back in time for the JCI Awards ceremony – this was a PACKED event, with nearly 2800 attendees in the main hall of the Grande Cube Osaka. I was sitting with our other Canadian delegates, as the French debate team has ALSO made it to the finals – so we were all pretty much anticipating the announcement to see if we could sweep both French and English World Debating Champion titles… and guess what – WE DID.

Both teams were called up to the stage in order to receive this awards – hopefully next year we can do a Spanish team as well!

After awards we all headed to the European night to which we danced the night away to a DJ from the Netherlands -

Just one more day – soooooooooooooooo sad!

See you all soon -

Stefan

Fortunately for me I was not up to late so I am well dressed a rearing to go…

We all met at 930 to get the show on the road and another brief overview of the actual event that was to take place. There were 7 teams in competition and surely lucky for us we pulled team 7 – which allowed us to have a bi into the semi-finals.

Our first debate was against Australia, who had just competed against Britain and won. These, besides Norway, were the teams to beat.

Our topic for the debate was: “A farmer needs a tractor more than he needs a wife”. What a wonky topic – and we were ‘against’. This was a difficult topic battling the reason to HAVE a wife – describing the economic/homelife and human need for a wife. We thought we got creamed by Australia, but they were doing a lot of mud slinging and we did end up coming out on top with a score of 819 to 801.  HUZZAH -

Onto the finals. Norway had just beaten Hong Kong to advance, for which our topic was: “The media is only concerned with the truth”. Fortunately for us we were ‘against’ this topic. We had the ability to focus on the word ‘ONLY’ – and disproved this by stating its ties to being a business (bottom line) and political ties. Unfortunately for us we have to wait until Saturday night Awards Night to see if we won, but we feel pretty good about it.

After debating I met up with some fellow Canadian delegates and I took them to the sushi place I ate at almost everynight at the hostel. It was fun because I was showing them how to order sushi in Japanese – and the sushi chef clearly recognised me because when I walked in he and his staff shouted ‘O CANADA’ – and welcomed us. haha TOO FUN.

I had the crew trying some different types of sushi including Unagi (eel), and Tobiko (fish roe) – Everyone seemed to agree that the eel was one of the best – who woulda thunk!

After sushi we all headed to Japan night at the Kyocera dome, which is the indoor baseball field in Osaka. That was super cool. Every JCI Japan group had their own booth showing off local cuisine, drinks and sport. I had a LOT of sake that evening…

Oh and a special Happy Birthday to my lil’ sister Elen, who is turning 19 Today -

Ciao for now -

Stefan

I slept in today. YES I know, I know – why waste my time sleeping when I could be out and about – WELL let me tell you… those Swiss know how to party. Eeeeep.

I made it to the conference at about 11am – which, for the state I was in, was pretty good – showered and even well dressed…

Today was just a day off from training for all the delegates. After lunch all of the JCI delegates went to Universal Studios Japan - best of all it was all FREE. It is amazing how much clout the Japanese JCI team has had during this congress and the ‘deals’ that they have arranged. Anyways… I went to Universal Studios alone because I lost the other Canucks between me arriving and lunch – so I headed by traing to the appropriate place, and upon arriving saw a mass group of JCI badges so I went over and joined them. Not thinking anything of it I joined their ‘tour’ and headed into the park. It wasnt until later I discovered they were ALL Finnish -WELL who would have thunk that the Finnish Consulate would arrange a private tour with a translator and guide for the Universal Studios – WELL they did and I seemed to have crashed their party. I was told it was no big deal – as they were SUPER friendly and spoke English which is always an added benefit. I basically stayed with this Fin delegation until the end of the trip there. One of the most spectacular attractions was Waterworld which is a live action stunt-based show based on the 1995 movie. This showing of the show was exclusive for JCI delgates and begun with the arrival of our current World president by boat accompanied by ‘bad guy’ actors from the show, where Roland ‘shot’ some of them, one of which fell 8 stories into the water below. It was extremely spectacular, at one point there was a full size prop plane that crashes into the set. Toooooooooo cool!

From Universal studios I went to the Global Village Party, which was at the ZEPP Osaka, which is an event center similar to the EEC in Edmonton. This night was where every delegation had a table to present some food, sweets, and drinks of their nation to the other delegates. One of my favorites was the British delegation because I LOVE Pimms – and then the Honduran one, where they had a drink of an herb liquor and coffee – YUM! This was the night where I did TONNES of networking in preparation to submit my First Timers Package. Lots of Canadian pins and flags were given out in exchange for cards, signatures and kisses… all in all a GREAT night.

All for now – tomorrow is the World Debating Championships… *nervous laugh*

Cheers,

Stefan