Here is my recommended song for this post.

So we are now in our last unit of PLP and it’s a large one. We are looking at how, as now educated citizens (as outlined by the ministry) we will change the world. The argument is that we will change the world, which I don’t doubt and to be honest strive to do. Each of us individually have to formulate a project around how we are going to change the world and to start it all off we are doing a slight repeat on an assignment from a couple years back. We are doing a “who’s at my table?” thing. This time around we also had to include a life goal and a personal mission statement. 

I should probably provide some background on my mission statement and goal. First my plans for my life, currently, is to pursue a career in biology (still trying to decide between marine or forest biology) and conservation. I don’t know what that will look like specifically but I know that I don’t want to do biological consultant work with businesses and that kind of thing, what I really want to do is hands on field work either with research, government work or species rehabilitation work. I really want to be working on physically protecting the environment, working to either raise awareness, working with foundations or with zoos and their conservation programs. 

Now that’s just really my career goals, personally I want to do a fair bit of travel with it, exploring the world and new places. I have some ideas where I want to spend some serious time but it all comes down to what I end up doing for work, if I go on the marine side I want to do some work in Australia, Indonesia and the west coast of North America. If I go forest I could end up in Europe or Canada, but that is a little more open. On top of travel I also want to continue to build my outdoor experience, doing prolonged camping trips, hikes and spending time in the backcountry. 

Ultimately with my life I want to protect the natural world, and explore as much of it as I can.

So on top of the mission statement and goal we also had to include our role models and mentors. I’ve had a number of people to look up to in my life but these five are really the big ones right now, some provide inspiration for me and others have been a guiding force in my development as a person in recent years.

Jane Goodall – So there’s a little history here, in Grade 5 or 6 (can’t remember it was a while ago) I had to do a research project on famous people with similar attributes as me (there was a quiz thing that told us what personality type we are or something). That was when I really started to understand what she did and her research with chimps, I found it really fascinating and inspiring, she spent a long time in the jungle, Never Cry Wolf style, studying a group of animals. She has been an inspiration of what I hope to do with my career, spending time in the field hands on with animals working to better understand them so I can help them and protect them. 

Bear Grylls – I grew up watching Man Vs Wild and I’ve always admired Bear’s training and constant desire to be outdoors. I don’t necessarily want to do SAS training but military survival training has always been a bit of an interest of mine and I want to continue to expand my survival and outdoor skills so I can do similar things that Bear has done. Having that ability to run into the back country and be able to thrive is something I have always wanted and continue to strive to achieve. 

Kerri Inglis – Kerri has been a family friend for a few year now and she has been one of my venture advisors for the past 5 years. Kerri has been a role model for me, she is constantly working towards a new expedition, looking at new gear and pursuing her goals. Kerri has been working towards being a paramedic for some time now and despite the long process she has maintained her drive towards that goal. I really admire that and want to maintain a similar drive towards my goals, if I need to veer off path for a little bit it has to be in support of that goal.

Scott Lennox – Scott is the head of the Camp Byng Committee. Camp Byng is a scout property on the Sunshine Coast and I have spent a lot of time on the property, both camping, doing site work and volunteering. Scott has been a big mentor of mine within scouting, giving me guidance during my leadership work and supporting my goals. He all around has been a really great guide in giving me advice and listening to my struggles as well.

Daryl Hutchison – My dad has been a big role model in my life. He always is looking to improve himself in any way he can and I really admire that. He also has a huge passion for the outdoors and spending time in the back country, that has always been our way to connect and spend time together, whatever chance we get we go off into the forest and camp, have fires and explore. I really value his opinion on things and try to have similar attributes in my work and personal life.

So moving forward we will be looking at some of the history we haven’t covered, so of course I’m excited for that. We will also be moving forwards with our end project and formulating ideas towards that which I’m looking forward to. I have so,e ideas but they are pretty lofty so we will see how that goes.