News

The Generation Change Kick off conference was held on Wednesday November 04^th, 2015 at the Carmine Stefano Community Centre. Members of the Success Beyond Limits team Delano Grant, Kaneka Watkins, and Mohamed Ahmed conducted two workshops titled “Present Your Best” for the student leaders from Westview Centennial Secondary School, Downsview Secondary School, and C W Jefferys Collegiate Institute. The workshop focused on youth engaging around the themes Be Prepared, Engagement, and Time Management, in preparing them for the presentations they will be doing for the Middle School students in their community. The Success Beyond Limits team will be hosting a series of “Reaching Back” workshops starting January 2016 for Brookview and Oakdale Middle School in engaging and supporting youth on various topics such as Healthy Relationships and Anti-Bullying. Success Beyond Limits Mentors will conduct these workshops with staff support and Generation Change student leaders. Lots to come in breaking barriers to community Engagement.

The Westview Centennial Secondary School grade ten retreat took place from October 14^th-16^th, 2015. The Generation Change student club hosted the camp in partnership with Success Beyond Limits Education Program at Camp Pine Crest in embracing learning beyond the classroom. This opportunity provided 50 grade ten students and 20 grade eleven and twelve student leaders the chance to explore the outdoors and build healthy relationship amongst each other. The camp allowed youth to step away from the distraction of technology devices and to embrace Self-Exploration in a different environmental setting. A big part of creating leaders is acknowledging one, and grade 11 and 12 student leaders from Generation Change and SBL got the chance to build upon their mentorship role in ensuring the grade ten students felt supported and encouraged in knowing they had support system amongst their peers.

Many individuals who have gone through our graduation model have grown from one position and transitioned into a variety of different roles. Delano has gone through this model and has been a vital person to the success of this program. His past experience as a mentor for 3 consecutive years while attending Westview C.S.S has made him a great candidate for the recreational staff role. As a recreational staff for 2 consecutive summers, he has been working closely with many youth in the mentor position and exemplified positive leadership. Delano has recently graduated and received his degree in social work from Ryerson University. His work in and out of school has been reflective of what we look for in an individual who has the passion to influence positive change in our community. Delano is currently working in a new role with SBL during the school year on a full time basis as one of our core staff supporting the growth and development of our youth. His outgoing personality and strong connection to SBL participants is one of the assets that he brings to the table along with his outlook on ways in which we can tackle community issues. We welcome Delano Grant with open arms as he embarks on a new role with SBL and enters in with a strong head start.

On September 23^rd the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) opened its doors for the grand opening of internationally renowned, Trinidadian artist Marlon Griffith’s exhibition “Symbols of Endurance.”

The exhibition picks up where the Ring of Fire procession that was held in early August, 2015 left off. Symbols of Endurance was a synaesthetic experience for viewers that traces the project’s trajectory through a thorough staging of original source material, sketches, technical drawings, and maquettes that informed the creation of “Toronto’s procession.”

The exhibition opened with a free public reception on Wednesday, September 23, from 6-9 pm where Marlon Griffith, AGYU and the youth from across the city that were involved in the project gathered together to celebrate the project.

SBL alumni mentors, Destiny Henry, Adulkadir Nur (Moose), Aliyah-Suvannah Burey and Kareem Bennett wrote and performed beautiful pieces to accompany the masks during the procession and the artwork at the exhibit. The poetry and artwork captured the symbols and grandfather teachings of courage, love, humility, honesty, respect, wisdom, and truth.

For anyone that would still like to view this amazing collection, the exhibition will stay open until December 6^th.

This year for the Toronto International Film Festival, SBL youth were given the opportunity to see the city taken over by #TIFF2015! A group of mentors, program participants and staff headed downtown to see the films Keeper & as I Open My Eyes.

The film was extremely engaging and emotionally charged story about the connection between fatherhood & teenage-hood. While the youth expected it to work out in Hollywood fashion, they were left with raw emotions by the end of the film, which led to amazing conversations around their experience with teenage-hood and family.

A smaller group went to see As I Open My Eyes, which sparked great interest in learning more about the conflict happening in Tunisia. In both cases, the experience was powerful and we thank our partners at TIFF for providing this opportunity to the youth each year!

Until next year #TIFF2015!

In early April, SBL partnered with Civic Action and H&M Canada to provide a group of SBL youth with the opportunity to gain valuable employment experience. From the group of 10 youth that secured employment with H&M, 7 will continue learning & growing with H&M into the fall.

The students continuing with H&M were recognized for their contributions and achievements at H&M’s downtown office on September 15th. The H&M team put together an amazing evening of celebrating growth and partnerships, where every youth in the room felt valued and recognized.

H&M’s new campaign “________is Possible” attempts to instil confidence and convey the message that great things are indeed possible. This partnership exemplifies that #ANYTHINGISPOSSIBLE through great collaborations!

We are excited to continue this partnership into the new school year and provide this opportunity for many more youth.

Click here for more of the story

While many students and teachers look forward to summer for time off, our students and teachers look forward to the SBL Summer Program. The program has been described as “so much fun with so many opportunities.” CTV stopped by to capture some of those experiences and moments.

CLICK HERE FOR THE CTV SEGMENT

Our 2015 summer program has come to a successful end and is now captured in a report. Check it out below and don’t forget to also check out our summer video on our YouTube channel.

SummerReport2015-

This past Saturday, September 19th SBL was Live At The Square to check out an event held by @MNFSTO a festival of community and culture. We got the chance to connect with others from the city, check out a break dancing competition and look forward to Melanie Fiona ending the night with a fantastic performance. The youth really appreciated the talent that Toronto artists and entrepreneurs had to offer. Each year that we have taken a bus load of youth downtown for the event has been a new experience every time! Knowing that @MNFSTO is more than a festival but also a platform to put local artists on the map is one of the many reasons we support the movement!