A lifetime of great relationships.

Recently a local high school student was asked in his Leadership Class to comment on a significant turning point in his life, ala The TSN Turning Point in a sports game. Here's what he wrote:

I doubt I would even be taking this class if I didn’t live in my amazing neighbourhood. Moving there in December 2000 shaped me into a person who would not have otherwise existed. The April after we moved my parents registered me in learn to play soccer. It was the year before kindergarten and so I had not met many other kids my age yet. I will always remember the first day of kindergarten when I saw Josephs' name on a cubby. Somehow I made the connection to soccer and didn’t feel so alone anymore. I felt connected.

Soccer was the first medium for meeting buddies and it was on the pitch that I met three of my best friends today. I have always loved soccer and I believe that getting me into such a great program so early on played a huge part in dictating what sports I play.

My parents were committed to being a part of the neighbourhood so they enrolled me in the local elementary school. I became great friends with the kids I had met in soccer because I saw them everywhere: in the park, on the streets and in school. I not only made connections with my friends, I made connections with their parents and with my teachers and because I saw people in more than one setting, and thus my neighbourhood became my extended family to me. Even today I can walk my dog down the street and create conversation with the people I meet because our neighbourhood is more intimate than just a bunch of friendly acquaintances. This feeling of being connected has molded me more than anything. This familiar feeling of being connected is also the main reason I was attracted to my current local school, S********** High.

The friends I’ve made, the sports I’ve played and the people I have interacted with make my neighbourhood a unique community and have made me the person I am today. Moving to L****** is the most influential moment in my life.

Habakkuk 3:2
LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known.