Hello, My name is Josephina I’m from Clyde River Nunavut and I am 16 years old.

I am one of the 2024 NYA participants, I’ve been placed here in Campbell River, BC along with my buddy Keira. Campbell River is located in the East Coast of Vancouver island, it’s known as the Salmon Capital of the world. It has beautiful mountains and huge trees all over. So far we’ve been travelling all over the island, we’ve went to the capital city of BC Victoria, Courtney, Nanaimo, Port Alberni and Tofino While on the road I have been so amazed with all the big beautiful mountains. . We went boating back in Victoria and we caught some crabs and some prawns, it was an amazing view being in the water. I am super thankful for my host mom Debbie, thanks to her we’ve been travelling all over the island and getting to try new things! In a few weeks I am heading to Vancouver through ferry to go spend a night my mentor Gen! My mentor has helped me a lot and not only with nya assignments but with my personal growth, confidence and my leadership skills. She has encouraged me, supported me and helped me through a lot. I am super thankful to have her as my mentor, thank you Gen. 

For my volunteer placement I originally was placed in a restaurant called Dockside fish and chips for a while and I loved it there! I had very welcoming coworkers, they were amazed about the fact that I am from Nunavut and they had tons of questions. The restaurant was right on the dock so there would be some seals coming up, there was 3 regulars that would usually come up their names are Timmy, Jimmy and Kimmy. While I was working there I did some food prepping, serve customers, clean and help around the restaurant but sadly their schedule didn’t meet up with mine so I had to get moved. I got moved to a sport and swim summer camp for 7-12 year olds I am one of the youth leaders in training we teach the campers about teamwork, personal development and self confidence. At first I didn’t really like the job since I’m not really a person who’s good with kids, but I am getting used to it and getting close with my coworkers and the campers which I love. We do some fun activities in the morning and after lunch we go swimming everyday. Being one of the L.I.T (leaders in training) is helping me better my leadership skills, selflessness, decision making and problem solving. 

 Northern youth abroad has impacted my life for the better in so many ways. They have so many programs for young adults who live up north, it is a seriously good opportunity you don’t wanna miss! The fun part of it is you get to make lots of friends with all the other participants during orientation. Surely being away from home can be hard sometimes but remember home is not going anywhere and there are some coping strategies you can do to ease your homesickness, for me that works best is just being busy to keep my mind of a it and just getting out of my comfort zone.