Hello, my name is Ethan Tutcho. I am 16 years old going into Grade 12, and I am from Norman Wells, NWT.

I am currently living in Cheltenham, Ontario with John, Julie, Colleen, and placement buddy Kyran. Julie is my host mom and she is really fun to be around. We play chess and sequence (she taught me how to play sequence). Julie is really competitive when is come to board games – she makes it really fun to play! She is a really good cook and she brings us to places I’ve never experience before. John is my host dad. He is a very hardworking person. When he gave us a tour around his job and talked about what he does, it sounded like he works very hard especially when he is working with electricity. Colleen is my host sister. She took Kyran and I to new places, like when she took us to Canada’s Wonderland. It was so much fun, I was really thankful and grateful to be there. She brought us to a bagel cafe and it was really good to eat there.

My work placement i am volunteering at is call “BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF PEEL”. What I do at my job is to act like a Role Model by showing leadership, responsibility, being confident, organized, and have great knowledge. I also plan activities to play for the day. The kids there love to play basketball as much as i do, so every time during lunch break we start up a game to play. I have had the opportunities to go on great trips like the Wet ‘N’ Wild waterpark. I had a really fun time being there, and am excited for our next upcoming trip to watch the Rogers Cup, I am very excited for it and I’ll have a great time watching it.

There are a lot more opportunities I get with activities down south than back in the north. Like getting a tour around a university, and getting an invitation to a basketball tournament, where I  got to meet a lot of new people. Throughout the summer here in Cheltenham, I’ve been playing basketball, eating a lot and trying new types of food, and spending a lot of time with my host family. Me and Kyran had met up with other Participants Jailyn, Allistair, and April at Canada’s wonderland and I really had fun going on the rides with them.

I am really grateful to be in this program and getting opportunities that don’t happen much back in NWT. I feel I am both ready and not ready to go back home in the NWT, I am ready to see my family back home, but I am not ready because I am going to miss this family and all the people I’ve met during the summer. I wish to come back to the NYA Next or International.